Alicante
Une orange sur la table
……..Ta robe sur le tapis
……..Et toi dans mon lit.
Doux présent du présent
……..Fraîcheur de la nuit
……..Chaleur de ma vie.
Alicante
An orange on the table
….Your dress on the rug
……..And you in my bed
Sweet present of the present
……..Cool of the night
….Warmth of my life.
[From PAROLES, Selected Poems by Jacques Prévert, translated by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, City Lights Books 1958]
Wonderful black and white photographs to accent the word picture created by the poet.
About as good a poem as can be written.
And the photo! Could anything be more French?
Norb,
Good photograph, very French. Not as romantic as the poem, tho. I see an old rain streaked bedroom window in a garret, overlooking the rooftops on Rue D’Alger in the 1st.
Bill
Wonderful supportive proof that indeed, Ferlinghetti is the master. One has to ask…who else but Ferlinghetti would have personally translated and published this book back then, over fifty years now….not to mention, who else would have done so between then and now?
Who else? Well Jacques Prévert would get my vote. He was still alive when the translation was made and Prévert lived for many years post translation!
Cancel what I said. It was not appropriate.
The fine poem recalled the passion and haste of youth to embrace. Alas, at my age now, now even getting one’s clothes off is an ordeal.
Paroles–prevert, how little the title and suggestive picture on the cover have to do with the sensibilities and the sweetness of the poem. Just goes to show one can’t judge a book by its cover. But I confess the real joy of this one for me, was the comments. To know that Harry Mark Petrakis is still alive somewhere, even if he takes his clothes off slowly now!
Ah, how lovely. In French it’s so much softer and more seductive than in English
Seductive? This poem changed my life.