La Mouche-à-feu / Lightning Bug (verse)
Ignace Nau
La Mouche-à-feu
Le jour tombe et s’efface
Va, monte, redescends,
Vole, passe et repasse,
Sans cesse dans l’espace.
Etoile voyageuse,
Petite mouche-à-feu,
Si vive et si joyeuse,
A l’œil suave et bleu.
De parterre en parterre,
A feu de tes éclairs,
Va toujours solitaire,
Quêter avec mystère
Les parfums les plus chers.
Sous la haie odorante,
C’est la belle-de-nuit
A la robe brillante,
Qui s’ouvre chatoyante
A la lune qui luit.
Vole, brille et bourdonne,
Emplis-toi des senteurs
Que la brise te donne ;
Car la nuit se couronne,
D’étoile et de fleurs.
Poem by Ignace Nau
Lightning Bug
The sun sets and fades
Leaves, rises, descends,
Flies, passes, and pervades,
Never-ending space promenades.
Traveling star,
Little lightning bug,
So lively and happy you are,
Looking blue and snug.
Flowerbeds a-hopping,
Aglow with your lightning,
Solitarily wondering,
Mysteriously seeking
Perfumes most enriching.
Beneath the fragrant shrubbery,
The four o’clocks of June*
With a gown of luxury,
Which opens so shimmery
To the gleaming moon.
Shine, buzz, and fly down,
Fill yourself with the odors
Of the breeze that is around;
Because the night wears a crown,
Of stars and flowers.
*Translator Note: "Belle-de-nuit" or "four o'clock" flowers open in the late afternoon.
Translated by Emeline Frix, 2022
La Mouche-à-feu, lu par Emeline Frix
Page Image: Firefly photo by xx liu. Unsplash photos: https://unsplash.com/photos/HAdecBz0rZA