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extract from Les Châtiments by Victor Hugo

French term or phrase: extract from Les Châtiments by Victor Hugo

In a text about fiscal solidarity and NGOs, I have to translate extracts from Les Châtiments by Victor Hugo. My deadline is fast approaching and I cannot find a translation on the web for the part I need to translate. Does anyone out there know a site where I can find a translation for the following extracts? I am tearing my hair out here!

Many thanks in advance.

Victor HUGO (1802-1885)
(Recueil. Les châtiments)


Ceux qui vivent, ce sont ceux qui luttent
Ceux qui vivent, ce sont ceux qui luttent ; ce sont
Ceux dont un dessein ferme emplit l'âme et le front.
Ceux qui d'un haut destin gravissent l'âpre cime.
Ceux qui marchent pensifs, épris d'un but sublime.
Ayant devant les yeux sans cesse, nuit et jour,
Ou quelque saint labeur ou quelque grand amour.
C'est le prophète saint prosterné devant l'arche,
C'est le travailleur, pâtre, ouvrier, patriarche.
Ceux dont le coeur est bon, ceux dont les jours sont pleins.
Ceux-là vivent, Seigneur. les autres, je les plains.
Car de son vague ennui le néant les enivre,
Car le plus lourd fardeau, c'est d'exister sans vivre.

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Local time: 14:22

Explanation:
Hugo's writings aren't copyrighted, so there is no one legitimate translation. I've looked around the Web, and am not coming up with anything, either, so I don't think you're going to be able to put your hands on a translation quickly enough.

Here is my own quick stab at translating this excerpt (I wouldn't call it an "extract" in English):

The living are those who wage battle
The living battle on, ever holding
a clear purpose in mind and spirit.
Their lofty destiny scales the jagged peak.
They march forth pondering, enraptured with sublime purpose.
Ever beholding, day and night,
Either some holy task or some great love.
The holy prophet prostrate before the ark,
The laborer, shepherd, workman, patriarch.
The good-hearted, the fulfilled.
The living, Lord! I grieve for all the others.
For they grow drunk on the void of their boredom,
And the heaviest burden is existing without living.

N.B. I've taken out all those relative clauses ("ceux qui"): poetic English uses plain old nouns and adjectives where French, in its fondness for referentiality, uses relative clauses.

Selected response from:

Well, since we can't give a Légion d'honneur in ProZ, I will award the gold medal, or 4 points, to Yolanda for her incredible effort. I wasn't expecting anyone to translate this excerpt, but many thanks anyway. Thanks too for all the other information and to waynew for the second translation! I tried all the University libraries where I live (Barcelona, Spain), but they don't have a copy of an English translation. As far as I know there is only one book of Hugo's poems in English, translated by Blackmore & Blackmore and published this year by Chicago University Press. I am not even sure if this excerpt is in it.

So, I'll just have to scale the jagged peaks and translate it myself! It's a heavy burden!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer