contains an english and a french translation of the poem les separees (matric IEB second additional language examinable poem) as well a short background and notes on the poem itself (in english, with the key words translated into french in brackets for exam purposes)
LES SÉPARÉS, 'N'ÉCRIS PAS!’ (APART, ‘DON'T WRITE’)
N'écris pas.Je suis triste,et je voudrais m'éteindre Do not write. I am sad, and want my light put out.
Les beaux étés sans toi,c’est la nuit sans flambeau Summers in your absence are as dark as a room.
J’ai refermé mes bras qui ne peuvent t’atteindre, I have closed my arms again. They must do without.
Et frapper à mon cœur, c’est frapper au tombeau. To knock at my heart is like knocking at a tomb.
N’écris pas ! Do not write!
N’écris pas. N’apprenons qu’à mourir à nous-mêmes, Do not write. Let us learn to die as best we may.
Ne demande qu’à Dieu... qu’à toi, si je t’aimais ! Did I love you? Ask God. Ask yourself. Do you
know?
Au fond de ton absence écouter que tu m’aimes, To hear that you love me when you are far
away
C’est entendre le ciel sans y monter jamais Is like hearing from heaven and never to go.
N’écris pas ! Do not
write!
N’écris pas. Je te crains ; j’ai peur de ma mémoire ; Do not write. I fear you. I fear to
remember,
Elle a gardé ta voix qui m’appelle souvent. For memory holds the voice I have often heard.
Ne montre pas l’eau vive à qui ne peut la boire. To the one who cannot drink, do not show water,
Une chère écriture est un portrait vivant. The beloved one’s picture in the handwritten word
N’écris pas ! Do not
write!
N’écris pas ces deux mots que je n’ose plus lire : Do not write those gentle words that I dare not
see
Il semble que ta voix les répand sur mon cœur ; It seems that your voice is spreading them on my
heart,
Que je les vois brûler à travers ton sourire ; Across your smile, on fire, they appear to
me,
Il semble qu’un baiser les empreint sur mon cœur. It seems that a kiss is printing them on my
heart.
N’écris pas ! Do not
write!
*Présent l'impératif Passe Compose l'imparfait conditionnelle*
-This poem is written by Marceline Desborrdes-Valmore and is poem about two separated people
(lovers)
-Tone : Sombre, triste, solitair, passionnée
- She writes about how it is more painful for her when he writes to her because she is reminded of what
she cannot have, she wants to completely forget about him because even just remembering him is
painful because she misses him so much.
- This poem is the last letter she is going to send him, saying goodbye and telling him not to write to her
any more.
- line 2 tells us that the previously spent time (summers) together, we can assume that they were happy
together and then he left
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