Friday, September 18, 2020

RE-READING PIERRE REVERDY ~







On Tiptoe



Nothing stays anymore

               between my ten fingers

A vanishing shadow

               At the center

               a footstep

Choke off the voice that rises too high

That moaned and wouldn't die

That went too fast

It was who put a stop to this magnificent ardor

          Hope and my pride

              have passed on the wind

The leaves fell

           while the birds were counting

                             the drops of water

The lamps went out behind the curtains

Not so fast

Be careful you'll break everything with so much noise






Perspective



Did the same

Car carry me away

                             I see where you came from

                             You turn your head

Midnight

On the moon

Just struck

                              At the street corner

                              Everything is turned around

I saw her face

Even her hands

                              The last star

                               Is in the garden

Just like the first

Think of tomorrow

                               Where will they be

                                The thoughtless dead

When the wall vanishes

                                 The sky will fall







The World Before Me



Some time ago

Clear night

New sunrise

Next day

An old man on his knees holds out his hands

Animals ran all along the road



I sat me down

I have dreamed

A window opens on my head

Nobody home

A man goes by behind the hedge



The countryside where a single bird sings

Somebody is afraid

Somebody is amused

Down there between two little children

Joy

You against me

Rain washes away tears



You can't walk the narrow path

You go back the same way

There is a gate

Something just fe;;

Down behind there



His shadow bigger than himself

goes around the earth

And me I just sit there and don't dare look





__________________
Pierre Reverdy
Selected Poems
Translated by Kenneth Rexroth
New Directions, 1969






Around midnight, on hands & knees, I pulled
this old friend up off the bottom shelf and began
to read and instead of reading on and on I put in the
bookmark to save for the next night and the next. . .