With a selection of artworks by:
Pol BURY/ CHU Teh-Chun / Olivier DEBRÉ / Sam FRANCIS / Bernard FRIZE / Jean MIOTTE / Giuseppe PENONE / Gérard SCHNEIDER / Chiharu SHIOTA / ZAO Wou-Ki
Irish Melody
(An imitation of Thomas Moore)
The morning sun was beginning its career,
By the shore I saw a light boat
Rocking gently on the silvery waves.
I returned when night was falling on the shore:
The hull was there, but the fleeting wave
No longer bathed its sides in the still sand.
And this is our fate! In the morning of life
By dreams of hope our soul pursued
Swings for a moment on waves of happiness;
But, as evening spreads its dark veil,
The wave that carried us withdraws, and in the shadows
Soon we remain alone prey to sorrow.
At the end of our days it is said that our head
Should rest under a stormless sky;
But the calm of night is of no matter to my wishes!
Return the morning to me, the freshness and the charms;
For I still prefer its mists and its tears
To the softest gleams of the fading sun.
Oh! who has not wished to see suddenly reborn
This moment whose charm awakened in his being
unknown senses and new emotions!
Where his soul, as the embalmed bark
Burning disperses its fragrant vapour,
In the fires of love exhaled its treasures!
Gérard de Nerval, Poésies diverses
Translated by Jane McAvock
