# I am dust blown away over the edge



## Tygerlily

Hi everyone!
I am very new to the forum, and was prompted to join by a ‘challenge’ I gave myself:
I am trying to translate some lines of Van Hunt’s “Dust” lyrics:

i know that i've gone
in too deep
for you to risk a fall
[...]
i am dust blown away over the edge

The line I am working on is the last one.  My attempt has been stymied by the ‘over the edge’ part, and I have not found much on this specifically in the forum.

My attempt is:

Je suis la poussière s’envolée sur le point/le bord
ou
Je suis la poussière s’envolée trop loin/dépassée mes limites 
(since it is talking about mentally over the edge)

Merci d’avance !


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## Salvatos

I'm not very creative this early in the morning, but maybe « Je suis la poussière balayée par-dessus bord ».


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## Arrius

*Je suis de la poussière emportée par le vent dans le précipice*


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## XPditif

The fall idea makes me think of a cliff:
Je suis poussière qui vole au-delà de la falaise
Je suis comme(de) la poussière tombant de la falaise.

I like précipice too.


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## Tygerlily

Thanks for the replies!

I was hoping to make the words 'fit' into the same space as the lyrics in English - if that might influence some of the translations?




Merci d'avance encore....

Absolutely, I think he does mean a cliff or metaphorical 'drop off'.

Qu’est-ce que la différence entre ‘je suis la poussière’ ‘je suis poussière’ et ‘je suis de la poussière’ ?
I am thinking the first ‘I am dust’ the second ‘I am dust’ (more poetic/in the larger sense) and the third ‘I am some dust’.

Is that correct?


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## Salvatos

I am the dust, I am dust (rarely used this way in French, not in common speach), I am some dust.


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## Tygerlily

D'accord, merci!

Would the second form be appropriate in a poem/lyric usage, then?


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## st8f

the second one is more religious I think...
"tu es poussière et tu redeviendra poussiere" ... You are dust and to dust you shall return"


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## Salvatos

Tygerlily said:


> Would the second form be appropriate in a poem/lyric usage, then?


Yes, but I personally wouldn't use it for that particular line (it could, though).


As reminded by the quotation above, "Je suis poussière" sounds more like you are made of dust; dust is your physical existence. Considering how unusual this matter is probably explains why you won't hear it in everyday speach.


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## Tygerlily

In the lovely dictionary we have here, it mentioned ‘blown away (as in a hat, etc.) as s’envoler.  

Does that not apply to dust as well?  I noticed that the native speaker translations didn’t use this particular verb/reflexive pronoun combo….

true - salvatos and st8f, I think it would add more 'importance/weight' to the concept of dust, whereas I think in the song it's talking about the reduction of one's self, not making it more important by becoming dust. 

This is really fascinating - thanks!


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## Salvatos

Hmm it could more or less be used, but the lyrics imply that the dust falls down once it reaches the edge, while "s'envoler" would rather suggest the dust flying over the ravine and carrying on.


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## Kajeetah

"s'envoler" is an active form
"être balayée" is a passive form, maybe it's more appropriate in your context


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## Tygerlily

Ah!  I was wondering if I should have posted more of the lyrics - he actually speaks about 'being too far gone' for someone, in the sense of being 'too much' or 'too insane'...thus perhaps s'envoler might work, in the sense of his madness/pain/skewered view of the world continues even further (becoming more and more 'gone' or 'out there') after crossing the 'border' or 'edge' of normalcy...

Thanks for all the help, it seems perhaps nit-picky, or perhaps that I am over-analyzing, but it does help me learn more.

Cheers!


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## Tygerlily

lol - but if it is in active voice, maybe: été s’envolée?  Or can it not be moved to the passive voice?  
(Is there a diff. between that and 
été s’envolée et été balayée?)


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## XPditif

Comme de la poussière balayée par-delà/au-delà la falaise/ au dessus du précipice.
Keeping the active form would be bad in french.
(of course, i mean not bad, but it would loose all the poetry of the original text)


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## electre

"Je suis poussière balayée au-delà"

Pour rendre le son poétique des paroles anglaises, j'emploierais la forme "je suis poussière", certes extrêmement connu religieusement, mais également utilisé en poésie.
"Au delà" englobe plusieurs connotations, celle d'une limite franchie, d'un bord dépassé, celle de l'éloignement, celle qui donne un sens à "poussière" dans un lexique justement de vie et de mort, l'ambiguité entre le sens concret, "plus loin", et le sens plus métaphysique, de voyage mental, de chute, et d'autres encore!
Désolée si je donne l'impression de délirer, mais ce sont des nuances forcément un peu propres au ressenti, à l'intuition, plus qu'au pur rationnel...


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## Kajeetah

je suis de la poussière qui s'envole...
The only active form of "s'envoler" I know is the title of a song by Jean-Jacques Goldman, "Envole-moi" ("envole-moi loin de cette fatalité qui colle à ma peau"), it's meant to be poetical... because it isn't a transitive verb, it is never used in a transitive way otherwise.


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## Tygerlily

No no, electre - that was exactly the idea, this desloation (emotional, poetic, non-rational) that he is too far gone for someone, and will thus just fall further into it - and the syllables of your translation fit into the melody of the song more easily (I think I have been killing my neigbors' ears with trying to make these different lyrics fit!) Thank you! 

XPditif - can envoler/s'envoler not be used in a passive sense with être?
 
Merci bien - these are amazing responses!


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## XPditif

No, s'envoler/ envoler is only used in active structures.


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## Salvatos

"Être emporté" could be a good replacement if you want a passive verb (as presented by Arrius earlier).


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## XPditif

On a oublié:
Comme de la poussière soufflée par le vent dans l'abysse/l'abîme.
(je m'enflamme)


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## Arrius

NB "Autant en emporte le vent" = "Gone with the Wind".


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## Salvatos

It is the translated the title, but the translation is not litteral. "Gone with the wind" would be "emporté par le vent" (pour ne pas dire « parti avec le vent »).


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## Arrius

Bein sûr que ce n'est pas une traduction au pied de la lettre; je voulais seulement démontré que ma suggestion avait un précédent assez célèbre.


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## Tygerlily

Wow.  I have thought about it (and what fits in with the melody) for me: 
Je suis poussière qui a s’envolé au-delà
 
ou 
 
Je suis la poussiére été emporté au dela
(was that the right form of the past participle of the compound verb for the sense of ‘dust that has been blown away’ ?)
 
The first seems to put some emphasis on the dust, and going over the edge (and continuing beyond)
 
The second, that is  mere dust, and has been carried away by forces beyond it – a bit more of a submissive feel.
 
Am I on the right track?
 
(and thanks again, of course…)


Forgive my bit of haste, I am off to work soon - but will re read this several times I am sure.


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## Tygerlily

Aargh.  I messed up the accents on the second sentence, my apologies.


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## XPditif

Qui s'EST envolé... (reflexives have their "passé composé" with être auxiliary).


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## Cocytus

"[...] blown away over the edge" IS a passive structure 

So there's no reason why you should use an active structure here...


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## Tygerlily

D’accord, merci. (mdr, c’est un chanson difficile pour moi !) Puis:
 
Je suis poussière qui s’est envolée au-delà
 
ou
 
Je suis la poussière été emportée au-delà
 
Oui ?


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## XPditif

Je suis la poussière emportée au-delà.
Je suis la poussière qui a été emportée au-delà.
Are YOUR correctED sentences.


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## Salvatos

Précisons que « Je suis la poussière qui s’est envolée au-delà » est bien rédigé aussi, mais je réserverais cette tournure à un oiseau, car la poussière ne peut s'envoler d'elle-même


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## Tygerlily

Ah !  Ok !
(L’oiseau est un bon exemple pour moi de ce comprendre !)
 
Aussi, j’aimerais l’omission de ‘la’ avant poussière – c’est pas ‘propre’, mais c’est plus poétique pour moi (et, dans le chanson, Van Hunt mis l’accent sur le mot ‘dust’.)
 
Merci bien encore !


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## Soleildulevant

Un objet ou une personne emportée par le vent.


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