Que Suis-Je Hélas?
Susie Vaughan
Setting of Mary Queen of Scots' final Sonnet, written at Fotheringhay Castle, on the eve of her execution, 8th February 1587
QUE SUIS-JE HÉLAS?
Setting of Mary Queen of Scots' final Sonnet, written at Fotheringhay Castle, on the eve of her execution, 8th February 1587. This piece is part of a collection of pieces: 'Sounding the PAges', inspired by the British Library exhibition: 'Elizabeth and Mary, Royal Cousins, Rival Queens'.
Image: Mary Queen of Scots from the Lodge series of miniatures (painted in Victorian times) in Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire.
Photo: Susie Vaughan
Sonnet écrit au Chateau de Fotheringhay
Que suis-je hélas? Et de quoi sert ma vie?
Je ne suis fors qu'un corps privé de coeur,
Une ombre vaine, un objet de malheur
Qui n'a plus rien que de mourir en vie.
Plus ne me portez, O ennemis, d'envie
A qui n'a plus l'esprit a la grandeur.
J'ai consommé d'excessive douleur
Votre ire en bref de voir assouvie.
Et vous, amis, qui m'avez tenue chère,
Souvenez-vous que sans coeur et sans santé
Je ne saurais aucune bonne oeuvre faire,
Souhaitez donc fin de calamité
Et que, ici-bas étant assez punie,
J'aie ma part en la joie infinie.
Sonnet written at Fotheringhay Castle
What am I alas? And what is my life for?
I am only made of a body deprived of a heart,
A vain shadow, an object of misfortune
Who has nothing left but a living death.
Do not carry for me anymore, O enemies, envy
For one who no longer has the spirit of greatness.
I consumed excessive pain
For your ire, in short, to see satisfied.
And you my friends, who have held me so dear,
Remember that, without heart and without health
I could not do any good work,
Therefore wish an end to calamity
And that, here below, being punished enough,
I have my share in the everlasting joy hereafter.
Translation by Susie Vaughan
