Showing posts with label sea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sea. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Mere-torr (A Tower Built by the Sea)

Built to guide ships, I shall guide none,
The
Armada is sunk and gone,
And all the golds and all the reds in all my rooms
Fade still pristine, never ever lost or won.



Faite pour guider des nefs, je n'en guiderai point,
L'
Armada a sombré au loin,
Et tous les ors et tous les rouges de toutes mes chambres
Disparaissent vierges encore, et ni pertes ni gains.

They sweep past me, the valiant sails,
And their lookouts to no avail
Watch for the gleam of new lands, quarries to build empires,
And sneer at the sea, and the stones, and the hail.



Elles passent et tourbillonnent, voiles vaillantes
Futilement leurs vigies mal-voyantes
Cherchent l'éclat de terres nouvelles, des carrières d'où tirer des empires,
Et méprisent la mer, et les pierres, et la grêle sifflante.

We three thus sit always alone,
All three gilded, all three wind-blown,
Come forlorn on a ship wrought only of your own dreams
If you wish to claim the star-gazing throne.



Tous trois nous siégeons retirés,
Tous trois dorés, par l'air jetés,
Venez perdus sur un navire fait de vos seuls rêves
Si vous prétendez au trône éthéré.




Click me to read spoilers


The Seastorm by Pieter Bruegel (the Elder), c. 1568.


Saturday, February 20, 2010

Fjalarnir ok sjárinn (the Mountains and the Sea)

Beneath jagged mountains, cities sit...
Sous des montagnes dentelées, des villes s'étendent...


...towers rise, ships sail... A black tower looms in the East...
...des tours s'élèvent, des navires passent... Une tour noire menace à l'Est...

...an endless sea beyond...
...une mer sans fin au-delà...

Is it my hometown of Konungahella, in the fjords of Norway, in the past days of Sigurth Jerusalemfarer ?

Is it the havens of Gondor, sprawling in the bay of Belfalas, whence the sails of the Ship-Kings depart to explore and conquer ?

Est-ce ma ville natale de Konungahella, dans les fjords de Norvège, aux jours anciens de Sigurth qui Alla à Jérusalem ?

Sont-ce les ports du Gondor, s'ouvrant sur la Baie de Belfalas, d'où les voiles des Rois-Navigateurs partent pour explorer et conquérir ?

Click me to read spoilers



It is in fact part of the background of "The Battle of Alexander at Issus" by Albrecht Altdorfer. It is the subject of today's featured article on Wikipedia (thanks again, WP !). The article will tell you what sea this is, and what each features are. It's less wildly imaginative... but very interesting. Guess what the Black Tower in the East is supposed to be ?