The Young Widow

Fable by Jean De La Fontaine Collection The FablesThemes Death, Happiness, LovePeriod 17th century

The loss of a spouse never comes without sighs.
Much noise is made, and then one consoles oneself.
On the wings of Time sadness flies away;
Time brings back pleasures.
Between the widow of a year
And the widow of a day
The difference is great: one would never believe
That it was the same person.
The one drives people away, and the other has a thousand charms.
The latter abandons herself to sighs true or false;
It is always the same note and the same talk:
They say they are inconsolable;
They say it, but there is nothing to it,
As we shall see from this Fable,
Or rather from the truth.
The spouse of a young beauty
Was departing for the other world. At his side his wife
Cried out to him: Wait for me, I follow you; and my soul,
As well as yours, is ready to fly away.
The husband makes the journey alone.
The beauty had a father, a prudent and wise man:
He let the torrent flow.
At last, to console her,
My daughter, he said to her, it is too many tears you shed:
What need has the deceased that you drown your charms?
Since there are living ones, think no more of the dead.
I do not say that right away
A better condition changes these transports into nuptials;
But, after a certain time, allow that we propose to you
A husband handsome, well built, young, and quite another thing
Than the deceased.—Ah! she said at once,
A Cloister is the spouse I need.
The father let her digest her misfortune.
A month passes in this way.
The next month is spent changing every day
Something about her dress, her linen, her hair.
Mourning finally serves as adornment,
While waiting for other finery.
The whole troop of Loves
Returns to the dovecote: games, laughter, dancing,
Have their turn in the end too.
One plunges morning and evening
Into the fountain of Youth.
The Father no longer fears this deceased so cherished;
But as he said nothing to our Beauty:
Where then is the young husband
That you promised me? she said.

Jean de La Fontaine

Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.

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