Thursday, May 8, 2008

Identity of Images

Translated by Louis Simpson

I am fighting furiously with animals and bottles

In a short time perhaps ten hours have passed one

after another

The beautiful swimmer who was afraid of coral wakes

this morning

Coral crowned with holly knocks on her door

Ah! coal again always coal

I conjure you coal tutelary genius of dreams and my

solitude let me let me speak again of the beautiful

swimmer who was afraid of coral

No longer tyrannize this seductive subject of my

dreams

The beautiful swimmer was reposing in a bed of lace

and birds

The clothes on a chair at the foot of the bed were

illuminated by gleams the last gleams of coal

The one that had come from the depths of the sky and

earth and sea was proud of its coral beak and great

wings of crape

All night long it had followed divergent funerals toward

suburban cemeteries

It had been to embassy balls marked white satin gowns with

its imprint a fern leaf

It had risen terribly before ships and the ships had not

returned

Now crouched in the chimney it was watching for the

waking of foam and singing of kettles

Its resounding step had disturbed the silence of nights

in streets with sonorous pavements

Sonorous coal coal master of dreams coal

Ah tell me where is that beautiful swimmer the swimmer

who was afraid of coral?

But the swimmer herself has gone back to sleep

And I remain face to face with the fire and shall remain

through the night interrogating the coal with wings of

darkness that persists in projecting on my monotonous

road the shadow of its smoke and the terrible

reflections of its embers

Sonorous coal coal pitiless coal


~ Robert Desnos

No comments:

Click here for MBA information.