Description
(Video of lower version)
Arthur Rimbaud’s synaesthetic poem where he equates vowels with colours and lets his imagination run away with him a little. He may have had his tongue in his cheek…. This setting is composed, performed and translated by David W Solomons (dwsChorale).
A noir, E blanc, I rouge, O vert, U bleu: voyelles,
Je dirais quelques jours pour vos naissances latentes :
A, noir corset velu des mouches éclatantes
Qui bombinent autour des puanteurs cruelles,
Golfe d’ombre; E, candeurs des vapeurs et des tentes,
Lances des glaciers fiers, rois blancs, frissons d’ombelles;
I, pourpre, sang craché, rire des lèvres belles,
Dans la colère où les ivresses pénitentes;
U, cycles, vibrements divins des mers virides
Paix des pâtis semés d’animaux, paix des rides
Que l’alchimie imprime aux grands fronts studieux;
O, suprême clairon plein des strideurs étranges
Silences traversés des Mondes et des Anges :
– O l’Oméga, rayon violet de ses yeux !
English translation:
Vowels
One day I shall explain
your hidden births
A (Black)
Hairy corset of shiny flies
Buzzing around cruel stenches
Shadowy gulfs
E (White)
Candour of mists and tents
Lances of proud glaciers
White kings
Quivering umbrells
I (Purple)
Spat blood
Laughter of pretty lips
In anger or penitent drunkenness
U (Green)
Cycles
Divine quiverings of the green seas
Peace of pastures scattered with animals
Peace of the wrinkles
Printed by alchemy
Upon the wide foreheads of scholars
O (Blue)
The last bugle with strange fulsome strident tones
Silences through which worlds and angels pass
Omega, the violet beam of His eyes!