And so I was walking along

And so I was walking along by the larches. The sun was lifting up the birds as it smiled. The hill smelled of raspberry and strawberry. The ruts kept running before the horses. I had nothing in my pocket but an ace of diamonds, a dented billiard-ball and a small pebble, but I sang louder than the larch wind, my heart trembled in the sun like a bird. I was jumping the ditches, nibbling the grass, chasing the locusts and hugging the sheaves, not knowing how to turn off this joy that kept multiplying me so strangely I felt a sharp sensation of being at once hill, bird, larch and wind. Translated from the French by Norma Farber.m