A Sixteen-Year-Old’s Walk

Poem by Guy De Maupassant Collection Des versPeriod 19th century

The earth smiled at the blue sky. The green grass
Was still covered with drops of dew.
Everything sang in the world as in my heart.
Hidden in a bush, some mocking blackbird
Was whistling. Was he mocking me? I hardly thought of it.
Our parents were quarreling, for they were at war
From morning till night, I no longer know why.
She was picking flowers, and walking near me.
I climbed a slope and sat on the moss
At her feet. Before us a reddish hill
Fled under the sun to the horizon.
She said: “Just look at that mount, and this lawn
Yellowed, this ravine rebellious to the traveler!”
As for me, I saw nothing, except that she was beautiful.
Then she sang. How I loved her voice!
We had to return and cross the woods.
A young fallen elm blocked the whole road;
I ran up; I held it in the air like a vault
And, my brow crowned with the verdant dome,
The lovely child passed under the tree smiling.
Moved to feel side by side, and timid,
We looked at our feet and the wet grass.
The fields around us were silent.
Sometimes, without speaking to me, she raised her eyes;
Then it seemed to me (I may be mistaken)
That in our young hearts our glances were giving birth
To many other thoughts, and that they were talking softly
Far better than we, saying what we did not dare.

Guy de Maupassant

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