Le Dormeur du val [English translation]

It's a green hollow where a river sings

Clinging madly to the grasses with its rags

Of silver, where the sun, from the proud mountain,

Shines; it's a little valley, bubbling with sunlight.

A young soldier, open-mouthed, bare-headed

With his neck bathed in the blue-green cress

Sleeps; he's stretched out in the grass, under the sky,

Pale on his green bed where the light falls like rain.

His feet in the gladiolas, he sleeps. Smiling as

a sick child would smile, he takes a nap.

Nature, cradle him warmly: he's cold!

No perfume makes his nostrils quiver;

He sleeps in the sun, hand on his chest,

Quiet. There are two red holes on his right side.