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The Two Corteges
by Joséphin Soulary (1815-1891) | translated from French by Hadyn Adams
Within a church two groups of people met:
An infant’s funeral cortege, the first:
A woman followed, her heart fit to burst
Within her breast repressing her regret.
The second for a baptism all set;
The mother her young baby gently nursed
Within her cradling arms as she rehearsed
A smile of pleasure she would never forget.
Then these two women brief glances exchanged
As the church emptied, the services complete.
It seemed therein a miracle arranged
As their paths crossed whilst making their retreat:
For, seeing the coffin, the young mother grieved,
While the baby the other’s tears relieved.
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Original French
LES DEUX CORTÈGES
Deux cortèges se sont rencontrés à l’église.
L’un est morne : — il conduit le cercueil d’un enfant ;
Une femme le suit, presque folle, étouffant
Dans sa poitrine en feu le sanglot qui la brise.
L’autre, c’est un baptême ! — au bras qui le défend
Un nourrisson gazouille une note indécise ;
Sa mère, lui tendant le doux sein qu’il épuise,
L’embrasse tout entier d’un regard triomphant !
On baptise, on absout, et le temple se vide.
Les deux femmes, alors, se croisant sous l’abside,
Échangent un coup d’œil aussitôt détourné ;
Et — merveilleux retour qu’inspire la prière —
La jeune mère pleure en regardant la bière,
La femme qui pleurait sourit au nouveau-né !
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Hadyn Adams is a graduate of Durham and Cambridge Universities and retired after 40 years in education, the last twenty spent in China. Currently he lives in the United Kingdom. His publications include the novels The Spinner of The Years, Ecstatic from One Lie, and Catching Mice, all available from Amazon, and poems in university magazines and some anthologies—mostly now out of print.
How precious… thank you for your translation!
Great stuff, Joséphin.
A poignant piece of writing / translation.
Thanks for the read.
Nice translation, thank you for taking the time.
I see you’ve translated the sonnet rhyme scheme, as well as the words, from French to English! It does seem as though the end of the story is well suited to a concluding couplet. You ably convey the feelings arising from the religious atmosphere, especially in calling the surprise outcome a miracle (justified by Soulary’s “merveilleux”). I think the conclusion would be better as calm iambic pentameter, avoiding a line that has, in normal reading, only four stresses. Instead of
While the BAby the OTHer’s TEARS reLIEVED, maybe
While the NEWborn CHILD the OTHer’s TEARS reLIEVED.
It is difficult to decide how to express such high emotions.