When You Are Older, Little One
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“Petit, lorsque tu seras grand” is published in Revue LISA/LISA e-journal, both in French and in English (“When You Are Older, Little One,” translation by Elizabeth Rechniewski), with the kind permission of Pierre and Sylvie Henensal.
Texte intégral
A translation of Maurice Henensal’s poem
« Petit, lorsque tu seras grand »
by Elizabeth Rechniewski
in homage to Dr. Denis Mukwege
1When You Are Older, Little One
When you are older, little one
They will tell you who to fight,
And with their finger single out
The enemy that you must smite.
And they will say: look, there’s your foe.
At him! little one, die or kill,
There is the soldier clad in grey
Make him the subject of your will.
And you will march, in armour clad,
A number, tethered in, poor lad,
Living the tragic adventure
Lost in the dark of many hells
Wretched amid the thundering shells,
Drowning in mud and rancid filth
Till shards of iron pierce your flesh,
Leaving a mound of festering earth,
And scatter far the putrid dirt.
About Elizabeth Rechniewski’s translation of « Petit, lorsque tu seras grand » by Maurice Henensal, instituteur à Roscoff, 1933
2Maurice Henensal (1892-1968) was a primary school teacher (an instituteur) in the 1930s at Roscoff in Brittany and over the course of his teaching career, taught at several schools across the region: a primary school at Guipavas in the Finistère department of Brittany is named after him. He is the author of several books, including a diary of the siege of Brest (16 July-22 September 1944) and a collection of poetry published after his death, Figure de Proue (1979) but none are in print. This poem is taken from an on-line anthology of war poetry for local high-school students (queneau-lyc.spip.ac-rouen.fr/IMG/pdf/anthologie-2.pdf).
In order to request permission to publish the poem and translation, I searched for members of Henensal’s family and was fortunate to find his granddaughter, Sylvie Henensal. She in turn was able to tell me that Maurice’s son Pierre, her father, was still alive. Discovering that Pierre was born in 1933, I realised that the poem may well have been addressed to the little boy and it is a particular pleasure to me to know that he may be able to read this tribute to his father’s work. I warmly thank Pierre and Sylvie Henensal for giving me permission to reproduce the poem.
Petit, lorsque tu seras grand
Petit, lorsque tu seras grand,
On te dira d’aller te battre,
Et l’on te montrera du doigt
Ceux-là qu’il s’agit d’abattre.
On te dira : c’est l’ennemi.
Sus à lui, petit, meurs ou tue,
Éventre-moi cet habit gris
Contre lequel tu t’évertues ;
Et toi tu marcheras, bardé,
Sanglé, parqué, numéroté,
Vivant la tragique aventure
Sans comprendre, enfoui dans la nuit,
Dans la misère et dans le bruit,
Noyé dans la boue et l’ordure,
Jusqu’à ce qu’un morceau de fer
Fasse un pauvre tas de sa chair
Et la disperse en pourriture.
Pour citer cet article
Référence électronique
Elizabeth Rechniewski, « When You Are Older, Little One », Revue LISA/LISA e-journal [En ligne], Mélanges en hommage au Pr. Dr. Denis Mukwege, mis en ligne le 08 juillet 2020, consulté le 29 mars 2024. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/lisa/12722 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/lisa.12722
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