Poetry! I brought you to my lips
Like a cool pebble for my thirst
I kept you in my dark and dry mouth
Like a little pebble one takes
And chews with blood on the lips!
Poetry, oh! I gave you love,
Love with her face like a silver dawn
On the sea-and my soul with the sea in it,
And the tempest with the sky of the daybreak
Pale and fresh like a shining shell.
Jean Dominique translated by Regis Aubert
*To the gentle silence of nights close to the sea
(with apologies for omitted accents on French title.)
photo: NW Saline
