Yeats : 'When you are old...' [traduction M.P.]

Quand d'âge grisonnant, hochant du front

Lisant ce livre assise auprès du feu,

Tu te rappelleras combien tes yeux

Jadis furent ombreux, doux et profonds.

Plus d'un t'aima pour ta grâce charmante

Et ta beauté, d'amour faux ou sincère.

Un seul aima ton âme voyagère,

Et jusqu'aux pleurs de ta face changeante ;

Et triste un peu, et penchée sur ton poêle,

Murmureras comment s’en fut l’Amour

Qui, franchissant les cimes alentour,

Se dissimula parmi les étoiles.

[1892] 

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep ;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.