Hello, the second part of the poem.
At the end, it’s rather dark as often with this poet. Actually, for the forest, it ends well, eventually…
Edit: corrections made.
The Gregg Group was founded 22 May 2004, prompted by the lack of online shorthand resources. As the primary use for shorthand — business and legal recording — has waned in recent decades, we generally acclaim the skill as a hobby or personal tool. The purpose of the group is to promote the use of Gregg systems of shorthand by providing advice to beginners, support for students, and an association of users of this efficient, attractive, and enjoyable method of writing.
Hello, the second part of the poem.
At the end, it’s rather dark as often with this poet. Actually, for the forest, it ends well, eventually…
Edit: corrections made.
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This was not easy to transcribe, especially some of the words.
(And of course, the evil “pale-faced man” coming to destroy the forest has to appear in a poem like this; a little cliché but fine and poetic considering when this was written.)
Here we go:
Les siècles ont coulé rien ne s’est épuisé
Rien n’a jamais rompu sa vigueur immortelle
Il faudrait pour finir que trébuchant sous elle
La terre s’écroulât comme un vase brisé.
Ô forêt ! Ce vieux globe a bien des ans à vivre ;
N’en attends point le terme et crains tout de demain
Ô mère des lions ta mort est en chemin
Et la hache est au flanc de l’orgueil qui t’enivre(?).
Sur cette plage ardente où tes rudes massifs
Courbant le dôme lourd de leur verdeur première
Font de grands morceaux d’ombre entourés de lumière
Où méditent debout tes éléphants(?) pensifs ;
Comme une eruption de fourmis en voyage
Qu’on écrase et qu’on brûle et qui marchent toujours
Les flots t’apporteront le roi des derniers jours
Le destructeur des bois l’homme au pâle visage.
Il aura tant rongé tari jusqu’à la fin
Le monde où pullulait(?) sa race inassouvie
Qu’à ta pleine mamelle où regorge la vie
Il se cramponnera dans sa soif et sa faim.
Il déracinera tes baobabs superbes
Il creusera le lit de tes fleuves domptés
Et tes plus forts enfants fuiront épouvantés(?)
Devant ce vermisseau plus frêle que tes herbes.
Mieux que la foudre errant à travers tes fourrés
Sa torche(?) embrasera coteau, vallon et plaine ;
Tu t’évanouiras au vent de son haleine ;
Son ______(?) grandira(?) sur tes débris sacrés.
Plus de fracas sonore aux parois des abîmes ;
Des rires, des bruits vils, des cris de désespoir.
Entre des murs hideux un fourmillement(?) noir ;
Plus d’arceaux(?) de feuillage aux profondeurs sublimes.
Mais tu pourras dormir vengée et sans regret
Dans la profonde nuit où tout doit redescendre :
Les larmes et le sang arroseront ta cendre
Et tu rejailliras(?) de la nôtre, ô forêt !
Some things:
1. énivrer : the first vowel (in this case “a”) is written because a vowel follows the prefix en- (paragraph 106).
2. pullulait : p – oo hook – l – (disjoined oo hook-e), as in paragraph 230. This suffix does not apply to -ouler or -oulé: words like ecroulé, écouler, and derivatives are written in full.
3. The nt blend in épouvantés is a little short.
4. The r is written in torche.
5. grandira : (disjoined g) e-r-a (paragraph 214).
6. fourmillement : f – m – e – over th – m. The over th is the yod. The yod and the m do not blend (there is a jog, the retraite).
7. I would have phrased d’arceaux and left plus alone (like plus d’affaires).
8. Since rejaillir already has the yod sound in r – j – broken circle, there is no need to add the yod for the future tense, so rejailliras is simply r – j – broken circle – r – a.
There are other outlines I marked with (?) that I’m not sure about.
Thank you for the corrections, Carlos!
All the words marked by a question mark are correct… The one with the absent word is “oo-hook v”… œuvre. The “u” is maybe not enough obvious.
1) Understood.
2) OK. I’m not a great fan of disjoined suffixes in French Gregg: it doesn’t work well with French verbal terminations.
3) Ok.
4) Ok…
5) I wouldn’t have thought of this prefix for a verb. Why not?
6) This… is annoying: I always pronounced “fourmillement” “fourmilement” without a “ye”. (Maybe by analogy with “fourmilier”). After a little research, it appears that “fourmillement” with a “ye” exists… So I will change it.
7) Why not… Some phrasings are tricky…
8) Ok. I don’t understand the “e” in “r-e-j… ” Is it necessary? It’s just a prefix that is not very voiced…
Thanks again. 🙂
You’re welcome! No e in rejailliras, sorry, I meant r – j – broken circle – r – a.
Ok. Corrections shortly… 🙂