Ma petite âme, mais qu'est-ce qu'il y a?
«Hélas! J'essaie de prier
Pour tous ceux dont le sort ici
Prévoit un destin idiot
Qui ne vaut pas un demi-sou»
PB 7 May 2018The previous post on 'Dilly's Pentelopes' sowed a teasing question in my mind: could the fivefold, 'aeiou' rhyming scheme work in French? The verse above confirms, 'Of course`! I was, admittedly, having a lot of difficulty with the last line until... er ... the penny dropped, or rather the demi-sou, to coin a phrase. Why is the pentelope 'psychiatrique'? Well, psyche means âme or soul, and iatros means médecin or doctor.
Free translation:
Oh what's the matter, little soul?
'Full sadly I petition
For prisoners in their foolish hole
Who risk their soul's perdition.'
More literally: My little soul, what's the matter? 'Alas! I'm trying to pray for all those whose fate here (on earth) will lead to a foolish outcome that's not worth a farthing.'
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