Prières du soir 

Aucun moment n'est comme cela, 

A l'heure calme de la soirée, 

Les chagrins fuient dans l'au-delà 

Les voix s'arrêtent de hurler. 

Désormais prends entre tes mains 

Ce jour ici qui est passé. 

Tu vas tourner, je le sais bien, 

Ce que j'ai tenu ou cassé. 

Le mal je pense, le mal j'agis,

Mais tu guéris; toutes sont pieuses. 

Mes jours moroses tu convertis. 

Du gravier en pierres précieuses. 

Tu peux soulever et porter, 

Je peux sans détour tout quitter 

Prends-moi, mène-moi, sois près de moi ! 

Qu’advienne, ce qu’il advienne de moi !

“Evening Prayers : Aftonbön”, a poem written in Swedish by Karin Boye

Translating poetry is not an easy task. Could we ever undertake this without misinterpreting the original beauty of the piece, without misconstruing the author’s intention? An artistic licence or imagination of those who embark upon this literary adventure are required in equal measure, but to what extent? We often face this dilemma when altering the initial plan of an author, which is solely known to the creator herself. 

This is the case when translating “Evening Prayers: Aftonbön” to French, “Prières du soir”, written by Karin Boye, a Gothenburger. An English translation of this poem is easily accessible, yet there are some stylistic aspects that could be lost: she originally wrote it in octosyllabic verse, “cross rhymes” (rimes croisées), the warmness of the assonance in the last stanza, which are all important essences of poetic prosody.

Allow me to present this poetry in French, although it is merely “un essaï”, as it is a different approach to the poetess, in order to mark today, my 1000th lesson.