L'ennemi (the Enemy) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABAB BBBB CCD EDE C FGHI JKLB EMD BBB D C ANAN OEOE DOD DOD P I DOOD KKBB BOB BBO P C EIEI OQO LLE EOO R C SCSC OEOE DDB BBB B C CBBB TBOB OOB EOO D

Ma jeunesse ne fut qu'un t n breux orageA
Travers et l par de brillants soleilsB
Le tonnerre et la pluie ont fait un tel ravageA
Qu'il reste en mon jardin bien peu de fruits vermeilsB
-
Voil que j'ai touch l'automne des id esB
Et qu'il faut employer la pelle et les r teauxB
Pour rassembler neuf les terres inond esB
O l'eau creuse des trous grands comme des tombeauxB
-
Et qui sait si les fleurs nouvelles que je r veC
Trouveront dans ce sol lav comme une gr veC
Le mystique aliment qui ferait leur vigueurD
-
douleur douleur Le Temps mange la vieE
Et l'obscur Ennemi qui nous ronge le coeurD
Du sang que nous perdons cro t et se fortifieE
-
The EnemyC
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My youth has been nothing but a tenebrous stormF
Pierced now and then by rays of brilliant sunshineG
Thunder and rain have wrought so much havocH
That very few ripe fruits remain in my gardenI
-
I have already reached the autumn of the mindJ
And I must set to work with the spade and the rakeK
To gather back the inundated soilL
In which the rain digs holes as big as gravesB
-
And who knows whether the new flowers I dream ofE
Will find in this earth washed bare like the strandM
The mystic aliment that would give them vigorD
-
Alas Alas Time eats away our livesB
And the hidden Enemy who gnaws at our heartsB
Grows by drawing strength from the blood we loseB
-
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Translated by William AggelerD
-
-
The EnemyC
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My youth was but a tempest dark and savageA
Through which at times a dazzling sun would shootN
The thunder and the rain have made such ravageA
My garden is nigh bare of rosy fruitN
-
Now I have reached the Autumn of my thoughtO
And spade and rake must toil the land to saveE
That fragments of my flooded fields be soughtO
From where the water sluices out a graveE
-
Who knows if the new flowers my dreams prefigureD
In this washed soil should find as by a sluitO
The mystic nourishment to give them vigourD
-
Time swallows up our life O ruthless rigourD
And the dark foe that nibbles our heart's rootO
Grows on our blood the stronger and the biggerD
-
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Translated by Roy CampbellP
-
The Ruined GardenI
-
My childhood was only a menacing showerD
cut now and ten by hours of brilliant heatO
All the top soil was killed by rain and sleetO
my garden hardly bore a standing flowerD
-
From now on my mind's autumn I must takeK
the field and dress my beds with spade and rakeK
and restore order to my flooded groundsB
There the rain raised mountains like burial moundsB
-
I throw fresh seeds out Who knows what survivesB
What elements will give us life and foodO
This soil is irrigated by the tidesB
-
Time and nature sluice away our livesB
A virus eats the heart out of our sidesB
digs in and multiplies on our lost bloodO
-
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Translated by Robert LowellP
-
The EnemyC
-
I think of my gone youth as of a stormy skyE
Infrequently transpierced by a benignant sunI
Tempest and hail have done their work and what have IE
How many fruits in my torn garden scarcely oneI
-
And now that I approach the autumn of my mindO
And must reclaim once more the inundated earthQ
Washed into stony trenches deep as graves I findO
I wield the rake and hoe asking 'What is it worth '-
-
Who can assure me these new flowers for which I toilL
Will find in the disturbed and reconstructed soilL
That mystic aliment on which alone they thriveE
-
Oh anguish anguish Time eats up all things aliveE
And that unseen dark Enemy upon the spilledO
Bright blood we could not spare battens and is fulfilledO
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Translated by Edna St Vincent MillayR
-
L'EnnemiC
-
my youth was all a murky hurricaneS
not oft did the suns of splendour burst the gloomC
so wild the lightning raged so fierce the rainS
few crimson fruits my garden close illumeC
-
now I have touched the autumn of the mindO
I must repair and smooth the earth to saveE
my little seed plot torn and underminedO
guttered and gaping like an open graveE
-
and will the flowers all my dreams imploreD
draw from this garden wasted like a shoreD
some rich mysterious power the storm impartsB
-
o grief o grief time eats away our livesB
and the dark Enemy gnawing at our heartsB
sucks from our blood the strength whereon he thrivesB
-
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Translated by Lewis Piaget ShanksB
-
The EnemyC
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My youth was nothing but a black stormC
Crossed now and then by brilliant sunsB
The thunder and the rain so ravage the shoresB
Nothing's left of the fruit my garden held onceB
-
I should employ the rake and the plowT
Having reached the autumn of ideasB
To restore this inundated groundO
Where the deep grooves of water form tombs in the leesB
-
And who knows if the new flowers you dreamedO
Will find in a soil stripped and cleanedO
The mystic nourishment that fortifiesB
-
O Sorrow O Sorrow Time consumes LifeE
And the obscure enemy that gnaws at my heartO
Uses the blood that I lose to play my partO
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Translated by William A SiglerD

Charles Baudelaire



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