(revised literary translation)

Should I fall upon the battlefield,
You would mourn me, dearest Lou, for just one day;
Then my memory would fade away
Like a shell bursting over the front,
A radiant shell, blossoming like mimosa in bloom.

And that memory, scattered through the sky,
Would wash the whole world with my blood:
The mountains and valleys, the seas and the stars,
The wondrous suns ripening in distant space,
Like golden fruit around General Baratier.

Forgotten, yet alive in everything,
I would redden the rosy buds of your breasts,
Bring color to your lips, and crimson to your hair.
You would never truly grow old;
These gifts would keep you forever young.

The fatal outpouring of my blood upon the world
Would lend a brighter fire to the sun,
Deeper colors to flowers, swifter motion to the waves.
A marvelous love would descend upon the earth...