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My dream has embarked upon a floating island,
The golden threads of winds capture, in their nets,
Its adventure far off on the glittering sea;
My dream has embarked upon a floating island,
With great flowers and singing birds.
Armed pistils! fertile pollens and tall hollyhocks!
A vast and heavy rut seems to sway in the air;
The white magnolias are kisses made flesh
And the scents of lilies perfume the light.
The peonies, like hearts
Red, burn in the splendor;
The air pants with love and its breaths entwine;
The shadow is warm, like a breast under the cheek;
Large droplets
Fall from the branches, tirelessly,
And the roses and irises go swooning,
On blue beds of violets.
I have embarked upon a glittering island
Of green vine leaves and vermilion grapes,
Its trees are clear and their floating branches
Seem, from time to time, like flags of sun.
Happiness is breathed there, with its violence
Of sudden blaze and torrid ardor.
In the evening, one thinks one sees the flowers biting each other
And the torches of night inflame the silence.
– Will you ever come there, you, whom my vows call
From the depths of the gray and pale horizon of the seas,
You of whom my heart is hungry, since the bitter days
And the bygone seasons of rebellious childhoods?
My island is harmonious with your blossoming,
Wherever you are accept, as messengers
Sent toward your peerless beauty and your power,
The traveling perfumes of its clear orange trees.
Arrive – and we shall be the exalted ones of the world,
Of the earth, of the forest and of the tawny skies,
The universe will be mine, when I have your knees
And your belly and your breast and your deep mouth,
To plow under my fertile and mad love.
I have embarked, upon an island swollen
With great desires like breaths come
From a young and ingenuous country;
A proud destiny guides them and condenses them, here,
Like a bundle of voices, of calls, of cries,
In the heart of battles and melees.
The eyes of the blue ponds and the ecstasy of the floras
Will watch our double beauty pass,
And the birds, through the diamond noons,
Will sparkle, like sonorous jewels.
We shall tread fresh and flamboyant paths,
That the water scarf of pure springs will entwine,
An air of balm and gold that each dawn purifies
Will supple our body while vivifying it.
Our hearts, taut and strong, will exalt together
To understand more and better and to understand still more
Without ever fearing a brutal disagreement
Over the pride of the great love that gathers us.
We shall be gentle and fraternal, being united.
All that lives will warm us with its mystery;
We shall love the earth as much as ourselves;
The fields and forests, the sea and the infinite.
We shall seek each other, like vast prey,
Where all hope, where all desire can be sated:
Take to share, and give to enjoy!
And merge what is exchanged, with joy!
Oh! to live thus, fervent and frantic,
Steeped in all our being, in the deep forces
So that one day our two melted spirits
May feel the great laws of the world singing within them.
Emile Verhaeren
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-lover-emile-verhaeren/