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A clamor, in the distance. A crowd running under the rain beating
down, between the canvases the sea wind set clattering.
A man passes crying something. What is he saying? What he
knows! What he has seen! I make out his words. Ah, I almost
understand!
I took refuge in a museum. Outside the great wind mixed with
water reigns alone from now on, shaking the glass panes.
In each painting, I think, it’s as if God were giving up on finishing
the world.
Translated from the French
Source:
Poetry
(November 2014)
More from this issue
This poem originally appeared in the November 2014 issue of Poetry magazine
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By Abraham Sutzkever
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By Larry Levis
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By Ilya Kutik
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French poet Yves Bonnefoy published many major collections of verse, several books of tales, numerous studies of literature and art, and an extensive dictionary of mythology. He lived in Paris until his death in 2016.
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Poems By Yves Bonnefoy
- Cinq Poèmes
- ("Mais que se taise...")
- ("Visage séparé de ses branches...")
- ("Sur un fangeux hiver...")
- ("Le peu d'espace...")
- ("L'oiseau se portera...") (Tr. by Wallace Fowlie)
- Douve Parle
- ("Quelle parole a surgi...")
- Une Autre Voix
- ("Si cette nuit est autre...")
- ("Quelquefois, disais-tu...")
- ("O fatale saison...")
- ("Que le verbe s'eteigne...")
- ("Demande au maître de la nuit...")
- Voix Basses et Phenix
- ("Mais que se taise celle qui veille...")
- ("Tais-toi puisqu'aussi bien nous...")
- L'Orangerie
- ("Ainsi marcherons-nous...")
- La Salamandre
- ("Et maintenant tu es Douve...")
- ("Toute une nuit...")
- ("Regarde-moi, regarde-moi...")
- ("Ainsi restions-nous éveillés...")
- ("Quand reparut la salamandre...")
- ("Cassandre, dira-t-il...")
- Justice
- ("Je prendrai dans mes mains...")
- ("L'orangerie sera ta residence...")
- Vérité
- ("Tu as pris une lampe...")
- Vrai Lieu
- ("Qu'une place soit faite a celui...")
- Lieu du Combat
- Lieu de la Salamandre
- Vrai Lieu du Cerf
- Low Voices and Phoenix
- From Menaces du Témoin
- A San Francisco, le Soir
- Le Visage Mortel
- ("Le jour se penche...")
- ("Il y a que la lampe brûlait...")
- Le Pont de Fer
- A Une Terre d'Aube
- Ici, Toujours Ici (Tr. by Jackson Mathews)
- From La Pluie d'été / From Summer Rain
- San Biagio, at Montepulciano
- The Museum
- They Spoke to Me
- Douve Speaks
Other Information
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