Duraciné Vaval
La Prière du soir / The Evening Prayer
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Translation By
Monica Rodriguez Escobar
Translator Biography
Monica Rodriguez Escobar is an Environmental Science major also minoring in French, Victimology, and Cannabis Studies at Stockton University. She hopes to continue to learn about cultures and traditions of all kinds to better understand the world around her and to cultivate curiosity.
Publication Date
2023
Description
English translation of Duraciné Vaval's La Prière du soir by Monica Rodriguez Escobar. Read by Imane Nayyar.
La Prière du soir / The Evening Prayer
English translation of Duraciné Vaval's La Prière du soir by Monica Rodriguez Escobar. Read by Imane Nayyar.
Original Work
La Prière du soir
Le soleil se couchait au vermeil horizon
Et la brise apportait les rumeurs des savanes,
Le murmure attendri des vastes champs de cannes
Avec la bonne senteur de la fenaison.
En face d’un moulin recouvert de feuillages,
Se dressait, dans la plaine, au détour passager,
Une tombe dormant sous la mousse sauvage
Et les neigeuses fleurs d’un inculte oranger.
L’Angélus, tout là-bas retentit en cadence.
Alors, devant la tombe, à genoux, l’air contrit,
Une fillette dit sa prière, -- sans bruit.
Et l’horizon plongé dans une brume dense
Semblait à ce moment un temple au dôme noir
Et nu, d’où montait l’humble prière du soir.
Poem by Duraciné Vaval
Translated Work
The Evening Prayer
The sun was setting on the vermilion horizon
The breeze bringing rumbles from the savannas,
And the soft rustling of vast cane fields
Along with the splendid scent of haymaking.
In front of a windmill covered in foliage,
Stood tall, in the plains, at the passing detour,
A still tomb under wild moss
And the snowy flowers of a wild orange tree.
The Angelus, everything there resounds rhythmically.
Then, in front of the tomb, on her knees, with remorseful air,
A little girl said her prayer — silently.
And the horizon plunged into a dense mist
It appeared to be a temple with a black dome
And bare, from which rose the humble evening prayer.
Translated by Monica Rodriguez Escobar