Eugène Pottier, “Already!” (dedicated to Paule Mink)

June 21, 2012 poetry, The Sex Question, Working Translations
ALREADY!
Eugène Pottier
To the citizen Paule Mink.
At the break of day, the snow falls,
Swirled by the air;
A sheet of dove’s feathers
Covers the deserted cobblestones.
I soon passed that way again,
Where wheels and men’s feet floundered;
No more snow, alas! but slush!
            Already!
Was she yet fifteen? Certainly not!
Not yet, but at the same time old.
With a great tint to her face,
But nothing of youth or spring.
The dazed look in her eyes
Told what vulture gnawed at her;
I could sense the corpse in her,
            Already!
She was filthy and suspect,
Who followed her? Some gray hairs,
To the end of a vile alley,
From which soon issued cries.
An officer entered the fray,
Brutally questioned her,
Then packed her off to Saint-Lazare.
            Already!
[Working translation by Shawn P. Wilbur; Source: Chants révolutionnaires (1887)]

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Paule Mink, “Poor Old Man” (1894)

February 6, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur fiction, translations, Working Translations

Panting, along the gray road, which lost itself in the distance in a damp autumn fog, an old man walked, doubled over. Feet bare in worn-out shoes, trousers ragged and dirty, dressed in a thin shirt of blue cloth which covered him without protecting him from the bitter north wind that blew, a cheap cap pulled down over his eyes, an empty beggar’s bag on his back, and in his hand a gnarled stick which he supported his tottering only with great difficulty: his whole aspect inspired a distressing sadness. […]