The Relay

Poem by Gérard De Nerval Period 19th century

While traveling, one stops, one gets out of the carriage;
Then between two houses one ventures along,
Dazed by horses, by the road and by the whips,
The eye weary of seeing and the body numb.

And then suddenly, silent and green,
A damp valley covered with lilacs,
A stream that murmurs between the poplars, —
And the road and the noise are very soon forgotten!

One lies down in the grass and listens to oneself live,
With the scent of green hay one gets drunk at leisure,
And without thinking of anything one gazes at the heavens…
Alas! a voice cries out: “”All aboard, gentlemen!””

Gérard de Nerval

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

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