Mirabeau Bridge

By Guillaume Apollinaire 1880–1918 Guillaume Apollinaire

Translated By Donald Revell

Under Mirabeau Bridge the river slips away

And lovers

Must I be reminded

Joy came always after pain

The night is a clock chiming

The days go by not I

We're face to face and hand in hand

While under the bridges

Of embrace expire

Eternal tired tidal eyes

The night is a clock chiming

The days go by not I

Love elapses like the river

Love goes by

Poor life is indolent

And expectation always violent

The night is a clock chiming

The days go by not I

The days and equally the weeks elapse

The past remains the past

Love remains lost

Under Mirabeau Bridge the river slips away

The night is a clock chiming

The days go by not I

Guillaume Apollinaire. "Mirabeau Bridge" from Alcools, English translation copyright 1995 Donald Revell and reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.

Source: Alcools (Wesleyan University Press, 1995)

Biography

Guillaume Apollinaire is considered one of the most important literary figures of the early twentieth century. His brief career influenced the development of such artistic movements as Futurism, Cubism, Dadaism, and Surrealism, and the legend of his personality—bohemian artist, raconteur, gourmand, soldier—became the model for avant-garde deportment. Although some critics hesitate to rank him with the greatest poets of the . . .

Continue reading this biography