On the run-up to Bastille Day on Friday, here is the first of three poems with a French connection.
Pierre Jean de Béranger (1780-1857) puts this poignant farewell to France into the mouth of Mary Queen of Scots, as she returns unwillingly to Scotland after the death of her teenage husband, the King of France, to assume her responsibilities as monarch of Scotland - with disastrous consequences.
from ADIEUX DE MARIE STUART
Adieu, charmant pays de France
Que je dois tant chérir!
Berceau de mon heureuse enfance,
Adieu! Te quitter c'est mourir!
~
Toi que j'adoptai pour patrie
Et d'où je crois me voir bannir,
Entends les adieux de Marie,
France, et garde son souvenir.
~
Le vent souffle, on quitte la plage,
Et peu touché de mes sanglots,
Dieu, pour me rendre à ton rivage,
Dieu n'a point soulevé les flots!
~
Adieu, charmant pays de France
Que je dois tant chérir!
Berceau de mon heureuse enfance,
Adieu! Te quitter c'est mourir!
MARY STUART’S FAREWELL TO FRANCE
Farewell, delightful country of France,
Which I cherish so deeply,
Cradle of my happy childhood,
To leave you is to die.
~
You, whom I’ve adopted as country,
And whence I think I see myself banished,
Pay heed to Marie’s farewells, France,
And guard her memory.
~
The wind blows, we quit the beach,
And little touched by my sobs,
God, to return me to the shore,
Has not even raised up the waves.
~
Farewell, delightful country of France,
Which I cherish so deeply,
Cradle of my happy childhood,
To leave you is to die.
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