"The Daffodils" (Les jonquilles)

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils ;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay :
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced ; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee :
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company :
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought :

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude ;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

William WORDSWORTH, poète britannique, 1770-1850.

 

J'ai retrouvé ce texte par hasard sur le Net... Mon grand-père, qui parlait très mal l'anglais, se souvenait pourtant de quelques uns des vers de ce poème, appris plus de soixante ans auparavant ! Il se plaisait à les dire, de temps en temps, et on s'amusait comme des fous en entendant son accent inimitable so frenchy...