NOTICE

All files on this site have been moved to http://www.wikilivres.ca. All future contributions to Wikilivres should be made there.

This site will be closed on June 6th, 2012.

L’Olive augmentée/12

Free texts and images.

Jump to: navigation, search

XI. 'Spirit divine, whom the honoured band' L’Olive ~ XII
written by Joachim Du Bellay, translated by A. S. Kline
L’Olive - XII ‘Si nostre vie est moins qu'une journée’.



XII

’If our life is less than a single day'

If our life is less than a single day
In eternity, and the year in its turn
Wastes our days, without hope of return,
If everything is born to decay,
 
Why my captive soul your dreams display?
Why for the shadow of our day so burn,
If for flight to a clearer one you yearn,
Graced with wings to help you on your way?
 
There, is the good, every soul’s desire.
There, the rest to which all men aspire,
There, is the love, there the delight in store.
 
There, O my soul, in highest heaven clear,
There you may realise the Idea
Of the beauty, that in this world I adore.


I-white.on.blue.png This work is published here under the Creative Commons CC BY.svg CC NC.svg license and can be reproduced if non-commercial. cs | de | en | es | fr | ru | zh
Personal tools
In other languages