Travis,

Alan seems to have it them all. It is difficult to keep the bumps out of the meter when you translate. My French is terrible, but it seemd to read much smoother than the English.... mai, oui?

Norm

I have several poems that I wrote in french, I did the best I could to keep the portic structure when I translated it into English. If you speak french please give me your view of the translation



The Meaning of Life / La Raison D'Etre 

To the most beautiful person in the world, my wife

La Raison D'Etre
Par Travis Campbell 2006

Lorsque je sais
Je trouve que ce n'est pas vrai

Des que j'en y arrive
Tout le monde est parti

Mais j'en suis sur
Que tu aies mon coeur

Qu'est-ce qu'offre la vie?
Avec toi c'est juste ici 


I was asked to attempt the translation, not just literally, but to capture the essence of my French poem. It's much harder than word for word, I hope I did the French version justice.

THE MEANING OF LIFE 
By Travis Campbell 2006

Just when I think I know
I come to find that it’s not so

As soon as I feel that I’m there
There's no one to be found anywhere

There is one thing which I do know
You have my heart; I love you so

What is the answer, the key to life?
It doesn’t matter; cause you’re my wife


Author's Comments:
"Pour ceux qui parlent Francais, est-ce que J'ai tenu le sentiment original, Je l'ai ecrit d'abord en Francais, et J'ai essaye de garder le sentiment principal quand je l'ai traduit en Englais." 

I changed this as per some pointers, it does flow much better, thank you