Les Chimeres by Gerard de Nerval by Daniel Mark Epstein

Poems

December 2000

Les Chimeres by Gerard de Nerval

by Daniel Mark Epstein

Translated by Daniel Mark Epstein

Burke

was right!

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The disinherited

I move in darkness—widowed—beyond solace,
The Prince of Aquitaine in a ruined tower.
My one star is dead; the black sun of sadness
Eclipses the constellation of my guitar.

O you who brought me light in the night of the tomb,
Bring back Posillipo and the Italian sea;
Bring back the flower that made my sad heart glad,
The grove where the rose and vine twined joyously.

Am I Eros or Apollo, Lusignan or Biron?
My brow still burns red from my Queen’s kisses.
I dreamed such dreams in the cave of a swimming siren,

And I’ve crossed Acheron in glory, twice
To play on the lyre of Orpheus and intone
The sighs of the saint and the fairy’s clear cries.

Myrtho

Myrtho, I think of you, divine sorceress,
At proud Posillipo a thousand fires made bright;

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Daniel Mark Epstein wrote the libretto for the opera Jefferson and Poe, with music by Damon Ferrante.

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