The Rope Dancer and the Balancing Pole

Fable by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian Period 18th century

On the tight rope a young acrobat
was learning to dance; and already his skill,
his feats of strength, of agility,
were drawing many a spectator.
On his narrow path we see him advance,
the balancing pole in hand, air free, body straight,
bold, light as he is deft;
he rises, descends, goes, comes, leaps higher,
falls back, climbs again in cadence,
and, like certain birds
that skim the surface of the waters in flight,
his foot touches, without being seen,
the rope that bends and sends him back into the air.
Our young dancer, quite proud of his talent,
said one day: what good is this heavy balancing pole
that tires me and hampers me?
If I danced without it, I would have much more grace,
strength and lightness.
No sooner said than done. The balancing pole thrown away,
our scatterbrain staggers, stretches out his arms, and falls.
He broke his nose, and everyone laughed.
Young people, young people, have you not been told
that without rule and without rein, sooner or later one succumbs?
Virtue, reason, laws, authority,
in your fiery desires cause you some pain;
it is the balancing pole that bothers you,
but which makes your safety.

Florian

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

Text published on Poésies 123: https://www.poesies123.com/en/fable-the-rope-dancer-and-the-balancing-pole-jean-pierre-claris-de-florian/