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| Adrien's foot note for this poem: Walk in the Pinewood, Adrien left the city and took a ride across Lake Pontchartrain by steamer. It was there that he encountered an old sachem (possibly Chief Wellee) and his tribe. Looking at them he could see their downtrodden spirits . Then he is taken back by a beautiful Indian girl, who might have been Oushola , Bird Singer and daughter to Chief Wellee of Bushuwa. There he watched her, facinated, craning his head like a gull attentively watching a shiny object. Legend says that Adrien sought to marry Oushola and had to return to his family for a few days to get their blessings. When he returned he met Oushola's funeral party. He is said to have wanted to build a cabin near her grave to guard over it. He does mention in his biography, that many times he shed tears from the bridge, into Cane Bayou, where Oushola had so often bathed. Here in both the original Creole and the English translation are excerpts from the poem. Please excuse translation errors, i.e. guesses. The Creole language is a mixture of French, Spanish, English and Choctaw. There are some words that I have been unable to translate, such as "mitasses" , but have made a guess based on the context of the sentence. I point this out because it would be hard to tell what I have done. If anyone knows the answer, I would love to hear from them, just email me at info@bonfouca.org, This is a his is a work still in progress, but worth sharing |
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Les Savanes
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LA JEUNE CHACTAS
Un jour, las de la ville, où l'âme est prisonnière;
Je voulus voir encore, admirer la pinière. Joyeux je m'embarquai. Sur le même bateau Etait un vieux Sachem avec sa caravane. ... A tous ces fronts tannés, ces visages cuivrés; Mais ils me semblaient tous sans vie, inexpressifs; Ils n'avaient conservé rien des traits primitifs, Hommes dégénérés par l'âme et la pensée, ... Et je la contemplais, immobile et muette, Tant je la trouvais belle à ravir un poëte, Tant elle avait de grâce et de naïveté, Tant éclatait aux yeux sa sauvage beauté! Et tandis que, rieuse, elle prenait ses poses, Sur son sein je voyais des colliers bleus et roses, Des coquilles de nacre et des anneaux d'argent Reluire, étinceler comme un prisme changeant; Je les voyais, semés en lignes monotones, Sur son pagne d'azur, sur ses mitasses jaunes; Et, dans ses longs cheveux, plus noirs que le corbeau, Je voyais rayonner des plumes en faisceau, Des plumes de héron et des plumes d'aigrette, Celles de tout oiseau qu'au vol sa flèche arrête. |
THE JUNE CHOCTAWS
One day, tired of the city, where the heart is captive; I desired to still see, admire the pinewood. Joyously I embarked. On the same boat Was an old Sachem with his caravan. ... All these faces tanned, these coppered faces; But they all seemed to me without life, inexpressive; They had not preserved anything the primitive features, Men degenerated by the heart and the thought, ... And I contemplated her, still and silent, I found her lavishing beauty had poetry, She had so much grace and innocence, Her eyes burst so much with her savage beauty! And while, black-headed gull, she took her poses, On her center I saw collars of blue and roses, Mother-of-pearl shells and money rings Glittering, sparkling like a changing prism; I saw them, sown in monotonous lines, On her loincloth of azure, her blouse yellow; And, in her long hair, blacker than the corbel, I saw radiating beams of feathers, Feathers of héron and feathers of brush, Those of any bird that the arrow's flight it stops. |
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| Translations of Les Savanes are available on the Books page. |
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