XVI ABSENCE
     
Etranger.
         Aux confins où débute l'absence,
Ni chant, ni cri. L'étang lorsque tremblent des voix,
Et un appel de bûcheron au coeur des bois,
Un fracas de chute environné de silence.
Perdu. Les compagnons sont des pas sous les fourrés.
Les souvenirs où tu as longtemps erré
Ferment au prince le chemin de ses forêts,
Du château où la longue absence commence.

Guette. Un vertige où tu ne t'aventures pas,
Un tournoiement dans ton sang d'étoiles mortes.
Par delà ton repos se dressent les portes,
Mais celui qui franchira la muraille,
Mon frère secret, je ne le connais pas.

Michel Galiana (c) 1991

XVI ABSENCE
      
Stranger!
          Beyond borders whereon begins absence,
No song or cry: a pond with a faint voice vibrates;
Woodcutters shouting in the midst of the forest;
Sounds of a falling tree, surrounded with silence.
You are lost. Your mates are footsteps in the coppice.
Memories upon which you lingered for so long
Have blocked the prince's path to his woods and his pond
And to the castle where long, empty days commence.

Hark. Dizziness into which you never ventured,
In your blood a whirling tangle of withered stars.
Beyond your rest the gates display their lofty scars,
But the one who shall once break through the wall of stone,
Secret brother of mine, remains to me unknown.