Jules Supervielle (1884–1960) was born in Montevideo, studied in France, then lived
alternately in a Paris suburb and in Montevideo. He published ten
collections of poetry. T.S. Eliot said of him and Saint-John Perse, "There are no two poets of their generations of whose permanence I feel more assured."
Secret Sea
When no one's watching it,
The sea stops being the sea
And turns into what we are
When no one can see us.
It spawns other kinds of fish
And makes other kinds of waves.
It's the sea for the sea
And for those dreaming of it,
Just as I am doing here.
"A gray ox in China. . ."
A gray ox in China,
Asleep in his stable,
Stirs and stretches his spine.
An ox in Uruguay,
At the very same time,
Turns around to see
If anyone has moved.
Flying past above both,
One at day, one at night,
A bird soundlessly makes
A tour of the planet
And never touches it
And never comes to rest.
Planet
The sun is rising on Venus;
Over the planet a slight stir.
Is it a barge with no oarsman
Sailing across a sleeping lake,
Is it a memory of Earth
Arriving up here awkwardly,
A flower winding on its stem
In these reeds where there are no birds
Turning its face up to the light
Nettling the inhuman atmosphere?
Rain and the Tyrants
I watch the falling rain
And the puddles that make
Our dingy planet shine.
A clean rain is falling
As it fell in Homer's time
And in the time of Villon.
It falls on mother and child
And on the backs of sheep
Rain is falling again
But it cannot soften
Either the iron hearts
Or hard heads of tyrants
Or shower them with the grace
Of perfect astonishment.
Gentle rain is falling
Everywhere in Europe
Putting all the living
In the same envelope
Despite the infantry
Loading their rifles
And despite the newspapers
Beckoning to us.
A gentle rain
Drenching the flags.
_______________________________
translated from the French by Geoffrey Gardner
JULES SUPERVIELLE
The Horses of Time
Tamarack Editions, 1985
