Fil d’horizon
Sur ce fil d’horizon
simple
sur cette nuit d’horizon
il y a une pleine lune qui se joue au ballon
il y a la lumière d’une journée lourde
qui s’évapore dans l’air noirci
Sur cette lame d’horizon
vont périr
les grands débats du petit jour
les idées courtes d’après la sieste
il y a la ligne des épaules
qui se réjouit de tant de calme
il y a le fond du cœur
qui se déleste de ses scories
Sur cet arc d’horizon
vient se greffer
le tissu distendu des étoiles
l’univers en lui-même
commence ici
par cette lumière quasi parfaite
le cœur grésille
sous la ligne des épaules
la ligne des épaules
oscille
dans l’axe de sa galaxie
Translations of this Poem
Thread of horizon
Translator: Donny O’Rourke
On this
single
thread of horizon
on this night of the horizon
the full moon bounces itself like a ball
there is the light of a heavy day
which evaporates in the blackened air
On this blade of horizon
will perish
the large debates of the little day
the short term notions that follow a lie down
there is the line of the shoulders
that exults in such peace
there is the bottom of the heart
which clears out its clinker
Onto this arch of horizon
is being grafted
the attenuated tissue of the stars
the universe itself
begins here
in this partly perfect light
the heart crackling
under the line of the shoulders
the line of the shoulders
swaying
on the axis of its galaxy
About this poem
The Scottish Poetry Library in partnership with the Institut français d’Ecosse invited Jacques Rancourt, director of the annual Festival franco-anglais de poésie and editor of La Traductière, to choose about twenty poems from the last twenty years to be circulated to four Scottish poets, who would then choose twelve poems to translate.
M. Rancourt and Magi Gibson, David Kinloch, Brian McCabe and Donny O’Rourke gathered in the Scottish Poetry Library on 15 December 2002 for a concentrated day of translation, re-working and working on the poems they’d chosen, with advice from M. Rancourt and in discussion with each other. This collegial approach was different from the usual practice of showing work to one or two friends in its intensity of focus and level of exchange.
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Jacques Rancourt
Jacques Rancourt was born in Quebec, and has lived in Paris since 1971. He has been Director of the Festival franco-anglaise de poésie since 1982, and editor of La Traductière since its inception in 1983. Rancourt has published 11...
