177. ‘Mille piage in un giorno et mille rive’

Love has shown me a thousand hills and streams

in the famed Ardennes, in a single day:

he who sends winged feet and hearts

flying, still living, up to the third heaven.

It was sweet to me to be alone and unarmed there

where bold Mars takes up arms without warning,

a ship at sea with barely a mast and rudder,

filled with serious and diffident thought.

Reaching the end of this dark day, remembering

where I have been, and on what wings,

I feel fear born of too great a daring.

But the lovely land and the delightful river,

with their calm welcome, reassure

my heart, turning again to where it’s light lives.