Why must I always fall asleep
Why must the night devour me
I am unable to go without a halo
It hurts to be without a crown
But when I sleep soft chimes sound
My indolence hangs on their rope
I dream of the heart of my dead youth.
*
Then time gives birth to a new order
Order of fall with twisted foliage
I am born I die I open and close the door
I am at the heart of what dies from blooming
I do not know how to leave from where I start off
Nor how to see any part of my sad future
I decorate my sheets with my twisted scowl.
On the side of good:
Over the delicate sky enormous clouds
Broke the flow of monotonous dreams
And when the flaming storm made a face
I was breathing darkness I was taking form
I conceived the earth that I worship
I was like everything that I name
I fortified the forgiving earth.
*
A thousand songs of grapes and apples
Bedecked all words with fruit
A thousand voyages of animals and men
Sought out the day on the earth without limits
Night kissed the lips of dawn
The flowers were opening under the frantic light
I was radiance I was weakness and strength.
by Paul Éluard (1895 – 1952)
Translated from the French by Lisa Lubasch
