Chapter IV

A word as to the work of translation. Most of the lyrics in _Serres Chaudes_ are written in the metre familiar to English readers as that of "In Memoriam." It is, in English, rather a dull metre, the stanza being in reality no stanza at all, but merely a line of thirty-two syllables with interior rhymes. It is greatly improved and enlivened by the omission of four syllables, or rather by their replacement by pauses of one syllable's value. This change I have sometimes made; and in one case I have, in order to avoid a verbal obscurity, extended the line to ten syllables. Apart from these exceptions all the poems in this volume are translated into their original metres, and it has always been my first object to produce a literal, almost a word for word, translation. Whatever the faults of my version, it is strictly faithful. If I am deemed to have also preserved something of the beauty of the original I shall feel more than rewarded for a task that has presented many difficulties.

BERNARD MIALL

Ilfracombe,

_September 1914_.

CONTENTS

Translator's Preface

HOT-HOUSES

THE HOT-HOUSE
PRAYER
THE HOUSE OF LASSITUDE
TEMPTATIONS
BELL-GLASSES
THE HUMBLE OFFERING
THE HEART'S FOLIAGE
THE FEVERED SOUL
THE SOUL
LASSITUDE
THE WEARY HUNTING
THE PASSIONS
PRAYER
STAGNANT HOURS
THE WHITE BIRDS
THE HOSPITAL
NIGHT PRAYER
WINTRY DESIRES
LISTLESSNESS
AMEN
THE DIVING BELL
AQUARIUM
THE BURNING-GLASS
REFLECTIONS
VISIONS
PRAYER
GLANCES
VIGIL
AFTERNOON
THE SOUL
INTENTIONS
CONTACTS
NIGHT

FIFTEEN SONGS