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Tête du Faun         Head of a Faun

Translated by Holly Tannen

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Head of a Faun

Among the leafy branches, green jewel box stained with gold
Among the leafy branches shyly blooming
With splendrous flowers where a kiss is sleeping,
Alive and bounding onto this exquisite tapestry

A startled faun shows his two eyes
And bites red flowers with his milkwhite teeth.
Brown and bloody like old wine
His lips break out in laughter underneath the branches.

And when the faun has fled - just like a squirrel,
And left his laughter trembling on each leaf,
Frightened by a finch, it goes into retreat:
The Golden Kiss of the Forest.

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Translator's note:
se recueillir; concentrate upon spiritual life, isolate oneself from the outside world in order to reflect or concentrate

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Tête du Faun

Dans la feuillée, écrin vert taché d'or,
Dans la feuillée incertaine et fleurie
De fleurs splendides où le baiser dort,
Vif et crevant l'exquise broderie,

Le faune effaré montre ses deux yeux
Et mord les fleurs rouges avec ses dents blanches.
Brunie et sanglante ainsi qu'un vin vieux
Sa lèvre éclate en rires sous les branches.

Et quand il a fui -tel qu'un écureuil -
Son rire perle encore à chaque feuille
Et l'on voit épeuré par un bouvreuil
Le Baiser d'or du Bois qui, se recueille.

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     Holly Tannen teaches folklore and anthropology, and has lectured on contemporary magic at U.C. Berkeley and at Yale University. Her recordings include "Invocation", "Between the Worlds", and "Rime of the Ancient Matriarch"


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Michael Potts, webster updated 4 April 2002 : 9:37 Caspar (Pacific) time

All text, translations, and songs copyright © 2002 by Holly Tannen