{"id":3010,"date":"2015-05-07T13:59:44","date_gmt":"2015-05-07T20:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/?p=3010"},"modified":"2015-06-24T19:21:22","modified_gmt":"2015-06-25T02:21:22","slug":"azure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/?p=3010","title":{"rendered":"Lozeau’s Azure"},"content":{"rendered":"

I stare and fill my eyes with your light,<\/span>
\n o sky devoid of trace of cloud,<\/span>
\n pleasure unutterable, unavowed,<\/span>
\n as azure beams converge in my sight.<\/span><\/p>\n

This blue swells like a river inside,<\/span>
\n a freshet rising up to the brim.<\/span>
\n Immensity, without boundary or rim,<\/span>
\n floods my humble soul, bearing\u00a0it pride,<\/span><\/p>\n

opening within, by sheer vibration,<\/span>
\n a space made mine through contemplation,<\/span>
\n who am a mere atom in vacuous space.<\/span><\/p>\n

This deep blue, this torrent of eternity,<\/span>
\n rolls on and spills into inner infinity,<\/span>
\n as, dazzled, I watch myself evanesce.<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span>
\n After Albert Lozeau,<\/i> \u00abLumi\u00e8re\u00bb \/\u00a0<\/i>Texte fran\u00e7ais<\/i><\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The bare mention of <\/i>azure tips us off to what <\/i>Lozeau<\/i><\/a>\u00a0(1878-1924) was reading in Montreal\u00a0in the early years of the twentieth century. Are metaphysical yearning and, it follows, angst restricted in time or place? This is a question the largely bed-ridden poet seemed to be answering just by asking it in Canada. In any event, I have never seen azure more pure than that radiating through a mid-winter high pressure dropped down from Hudson\u2019s Bay and settled onto the St-Lawrence.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

This and another translation of Albert Lozeau initially appeared in earlier versions in the bilingual poetry mag,\u00a0<\/i>Ellipse 38 (1987). They could well introduce a sequence of translations of depressive Canadian poets who wrote in French, including \u00c9mile Nelligan and Denys St-Garneau.\u00a0This is a breed <\/i>with which I felt much affinity in those years. On at least one occasion I partook of this same depressive mode in my\u00a0poem\u00a0<\/i>Qu\u00e9bec<\/a>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, ye pedants, I know that Lozeau’s humble soul was already proud before it was flooded with immensity. But I have a poetic license.<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I stare and fill my eyes with your light, o sky devoid of trace of cloud, pleasure unutterable, unavowed, as azure beams converge in my sight. This blue swells like a river inside, a freshet rising up to the brim. Immensity, without boundary or rim, floods my humble soul, bearing\u00a0it pride, opening within, by sheer … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Lozeau’s Azure”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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