Much Have I Travelled
Poem
Comme un vol de gerfauts hors du charnier natal,
Fatigués de porter leurs misères hautaines,
De Palos de Moguer, routiers et capitaines
Partaient, ivres d'un rêve héroïque et brutal.
Ils allaient conquérir le fabuleux métal
Que Cipango mûrit dans ses mines lointaines,
Et les vents alizés inclinaient leurs antennes
Aux bords mystérieux du monde Occidental.
Chaque soir, espérant des lendemains épiques,
L'azur phosphorescent de la mer des Tropiques
Enchantait leur sommeil d'un mirage doré;
Ou penchés à l'avant des blanches caravelles,
Ils regardaient monter en un ciel ignoré
Du fond de l'Océan des étoiles nouvelles.
José-Maria de Heredia
Like a flight of gyrfalcons out of the native bone,
Weary of bearing their arrogant declines,
From Palos of Moguer, captains and swines
Departed, drunk in dream heroic and brutal moan.
They went to conquer the fabulous stone
That Cipango ripened in his distant mines,
And peregrine winds bent their silver lines
To the mysterious edges of the Western throne.
Each night, hoping for tomorrows’ epics,
The phosphorescent azure of the Sea of Tropics
Enchanted their sleep with a golden image;
Or leaning at the prow of white caravels,
They saw rising in the sky’s secret carriage,
From oceans deep, new stars and foreign spells.
José-Maria de Heredia (translation by François Holmey)
Read by Youness Bouzinab
Music
Nocturnes - orchestral version: 3. Sirènes, Debussy
The Cleveland Orchestra, Pierre Boulez
Image
Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight, Turner
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington