Français
Español
Italiano
Deutsch
Português
The vigilant dervish calls to prayer
From the heights of the minarets stained with the sunset’s fires.
This is the hour for the lion that pursues the gazelle;
A rose in the garden I go seeking.
Long-eyed Muslim woman, of a master I defy
Delicious daughter, lover of concerts,
Is there a sweeter fate than to be your slave,
You whom I serve, you whom I serve?
Long ago, when my arm sent the prame flying
Over the fluid azure of the calmed abyss,
Tears of dark despair wet my oar:
A charm has cured me: I love and am loved.
The black rock pleases me; the tower the wave washes
Smiles on me now on the shores of these seas:
The signal’s torch shines there for your slave,
You whom I serve, you whom I serve!
Beautiful and divine are you, in all your adornment,
When at night into the harem I steal a furtive foot!
The carpets, the aloes, the flowers and the pure water,
Are lavished by you upon your young captive.
What happiness! in the midst of the peril I deepen,
To surround you with my arms, to adorn you with my irons,
To mingle with your necklaces the ring of your slave,
You whom I serve, you whom I serve!
In the shifting sands, of your white dromedary
I recognize from afar the sure and light step;
You appear to me suddenly: a solitary star
Is less sweet on the wave to the poor passenger;
The breath of the perfumed morning is less suave,
The palm tree less charming in the midst of deserts.
What glorious sultan equals your slave,
You whom I serve, you whom I serve!
My country, which I loved to idolatry,
Is no longer in the sighs of my simple song;
I no longer regret my mother and my homeland;
I fear that a holy priest may bring my ransom.
Never emancipate me! leave me my fetter!
Yes, be my freedom, my God, my universe!
Come, beneath your beautiful bare feet, come tread your slave,
You whom I serve, you whom I serve!
Tunis, 1807.
Chateaubriand
Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.
Text published on Poésies 123: https://www.poesies123.com/en/poem-the-slave-francois-rene-de-chateaubriand/