Phaedra

L'œil du souffleur

Mes yeux ne voyaient plus, je ne pouvais parler ;
Je sentis tout mon corps et transir et brûler.
Je reconnus Vénus et ses feux redoutables,
D'un sang qu'elle poursuit tourments inévitables.

Though my eyes could not sec, nor my lips make a sound,
I could feel my flesh burn, I could hear my heart pound.
Through these terrible flames I could recognise Venus,
And the torment she brings when she steps in between us.

Bilingual edition with a new translation in rhyming alexandrines by David Stanley Phillips.