Les aventures de l'ombre

L’ombre

L’ombre n’est ni masculine ni féminine.
Grise, même si j’y mettais le feu…
Elle me suit, grandit puis se réduit.
Je marchais et elle marchait,
m’asseyais et elle s’asseyait,
courais et elle courait.
J’ai dit : Je vais ôter mon manteau bleu
et la piéger.
Mais elle m’a imité et s’est débarrassée
de son manteau gris…
J’ai pris un chemin parallèle,
elle a emprunté un chemin parallèle.
J’ai dit : Je vais sortir du couchant
de ma ville et la piéger.
Mais je l’ai vue me précédant
dans le couchant d’une autre ville…
J’ai dit : Je vais revenir appuyé
sur des béquilles.
Elle est revenue sur des béquilles.
J’ai dit : Je vais la prendre sur mes épaules.
Mais elle s’est rebellée…
J’ai dit : Je la suivrai pour la piéger,
je suivrai par ironie ce perroquet de la forme,
j’imiterai son imitation,
ainsi mon double se fondra
dans son double,
je ne verrai plus mon ombre
et elle ne me verra plus.

Mahmoud Darwich, Ne T’excuse pas, Actes Sud, 2006.


µ


There was another light in the room now, a thousand times brighter than the night-lights, and in the time we have taken to say this, it had been in all the drawers in the nursery, looking for Peter's shadow, rummaged the wardrobe and turned every pocket inside out. It was not really a light; it made this light by flashing about so quickly, but when it came to rest for a second you saw it was a fairy, no longer than your hand, but still growing. It was a girl called Tinker Bell exquisitely gowned in a skeleton leaf, cut low and square, through which her figure could be seen to the best advantage. She was slightly inclined to EMBONPOINT. [plump hourglass figure]

A moment after the fairy's entrance the window was blown open by the breathing of the little stars, and Peter dropped in. He had carried Tinker Bell part of the way, and his hand was still messy with the fairy dust.

"Tinker Bell," he called softly, after making sure that the children were asleep, "Tink, where are you?" She was in a jug for the moment, and liking it extremely; she had never been in a jug before.

"Oh, do come out of that jug, and tell me, do you know where they put my shadow?"

The loveliest tinkle as of golden bells answered him. It is the fairy language. You ordinary children can never hear it, but if you were to hear it you would know that you had heard it once before.

Tink said that the shadow was in the big box. She meant the chest of drawers, and Peter jumped at the drawers, scattering their contents to the floor with both hands, as kings toss ha'pence to the crowd. In a moment he had recovered his shadow, and in his delight he forgot that he had shut Tinker Bell up in the drawer.

If he thought at all, but I don't believe he ever thought, it was that he and his shadow, when brought near each other, would join like drops of water, and when they did not he was appalled. He tried to stick it on with soap from the bathroom, but that also failed. A shudder passed through Peter, and he sat on the floor and cried.

His sobs woke Wendy, and she sat up in bed. She was not alarmed to see a stranger crying on the nursery floor; she was only pleasantly interested.

"Boy," she said courteously, "why are you crying?"

Peter could be exceeding polite also, having learned the grand manner at fairy ceremonies, and he rose and bowed to her beautifully. She was much pleased, and bowed beautifully to him from the bed.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Wendy Moira Angela Darling," she replied with some satisfaction. "What is your name?"

"Peter Pan."

The Adventures of Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie, chapter 3 – Come Away, Come Away !