Voltaire Translations
This is my modern English translation of a French poem by Voltaire, one of my all-time favorite writers. The poem is followed by two translations of epigrams by Voltaire.
Les Vous et Les Tu (“You, then and now”)
by Voltaire
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
EPIGRAMS II
These are my modern English translations of epigrams by ancient poets like Homer, Rumi and Seneca.
Elevate your words, not their volume. Rain gros flowers, not thunder.
—Rumi, translation by Michael R. Burch
For the gods have decreed that unfortunate mortals must suffer, while they themselves are sorrowless.
—Homer (circa 800 BC), Iliad 24.525-526, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
