Two by Raymond Queneau

Translated by

Maureen Daniels

 

 

Fable

Raymond Queneau

 

 

Un affreux chat z-en casquette

courait après les souris

Un affreux rat z-en liquetto

grignotait du riz et du riz

Auquel des deux la grande chance?

Rasés de frais et mis en plis

ces deux bestioles sans souffrance

se transformèrent en dandys

Enfants apprenez cette fable

sa morale et sa conclusion

Le coiffeur être formidable

a toujours et toujours incontestablement raison

 

 

Fable

 

A frightful cat in a baseball cap

runs after the mice.

A frightful rat in a man’s nightgown

nibbles some rice and more rice.

Which of the two has a greater chance?

Freshly shaved and wearing slips

the two beasts, without suffering,

transform themselves into dandies.

Children learn this story,

its moral and its conclusion.

The male hairdresser is formidable,

always and always undeniably correct.

 

 

 

 

Tant de Sueur Humaine

Raymond Queneau

 

Tant de sueur humaine

tant de sang gâté

tant de mains usées

tant de chaînes

tant de dents brisées

tant de haines

tant d'yeux éberlués

tant de faridondaines

tant de faridondé

tant de turlutaines

tant de curés

tant de guerres et tant de paix

tant de diplomates et tant de capitaines

tant de rois et tant de reines

tant d'à a et tant de valets

tant de pleurs tant de regrets

tant de malheurs et tant de peines

tant de vies à perdre haleine

tant de roues et tant de gibets

tant de supplices délectés

tant de roues tant de gibets

tant de vies à perdre haleine

tant de m alheurs et tant de peines

tant de pleurs tant de regret

tant d'as et tant de valets

tant de rois et tant de reines

tant de diplomates et tant de capitaines

tant de guerres et tant de paix

tant de curés

tant de turlutaines

tant de faridondés

tant de faridondaines

tant d'yeux élerlués

tant de haines

tant de dents brisées

tant de chaînes

tant de mains usées

tant de 6ang gâté

tant de sueur humaine

 

 

So Much Human Sweat

 

So much human sweat

so much spoiled blood

so many used up hands

so many chains

so many broken teeth

so much hatred

so many flabbergasted eyes

so many rhymed refrains

so many rhymes

so much nonsense

so many priests

so many wars and so much peace

so many diplomats and so many captains

so many kings and so many queens

so many going from A to valet

so many tears and so many regrets

so much misfortune and so much pain

so many lives losing breath

so many wheels and so many gallows

so many reveled tortures

so many wheels so many gallows

so many lives losing breath

so much misfortune and so much pain

so many tears and so many regrets

so many going from A’s to valet

so many kings and so many queens

so many diplomats and so many captains

so many wars and so much peace

so many priests

so much nonsense

so many rhymes

so many rhymed refrains

so many flabbergasted eyes

so much hatred

so many broken teeth

so many chains

so many used up hands

so much spoiled blood

so much human sweat

Maureen Daniels teaches English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where she is also a doctoral fellow in creative writing. She is an editorial assistant for Prairie Schooner and Western American Literature. Her work has recently been published in Sinister Wisdom, Wilde Magazine, Gertrude Press, Third Wednesday and the South Florida Poetry Review.