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Night Poem From Khandro (Wed.)
10 Answers
“Come to the edge," he said.
"We can't, we're afraid!" they responded.
"Come to the edge," he said.
"We can't, We will fall!" they responded.
"Come to the edge," he said.
And so they came.
And he pushed them.
And they flew.”
― Guillaume Apollinaire
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Thanks for the intro to this guy - i've just spent a long time checking out some of his works (in translation), some tremendous four-liners, especially ones about animals and birds. an example :-
O lion, miserable image
Of kings lamentably chosen,
Now you’re only born in a cage
In Hamburg, among the Germans.
translator unknown
jourdain; a late birthday poem;
1; Un petit d’un petit
2; S’étonne aux Halles
3; Un petit d’un petit
4, Ah! degrés te fallent
5, Indolent qui ne sort cesse
6, Indolent qui ne se mène
Qu’importe un petit d’un petit
Tout Gai de Reguennes.
1. The inevitable result of a child marriage.
2. The subject of this epigrammatic poem is obviously from the provinces, since a native Parisian would take this famous old market for granted.
3. Since this personage bears no titles, we are led to believe that the poet writes of one of those unfortunate idiot-children that in olden days existed as a living skeleton in their family's closet. I am inclined to believe, however, that this is a fine piece of misdirection and that the poet is actually writing of some famous political prisoner, or the illegitimate offspring of some noble house. The Man in the Iron Mask, perhaps?
4, Another misdirection. Obviously it was not laziness that prevented this person's going out and taking himself places.
6. He was obviously prevented from fulfilling his destiny, since he is compared to Gai de Reguennes. This was a young squire (to one of his uncles, a Gaillard of Normandy) who died at the tender age of twelve of a surfeit of Saracen arrows before the walls of Acre in 1191.
[Khondro's. note:
From the East Anglia Tourist Board in England: "Humpty Dumpty was a powerful cannon during the English Civil War (1642-49). It was mounted on top of the St Mary's at the Wall Church in Colchester defending the city against siege in the summer of 1648. (Although Colchester was a Parliamentarian stronghold, it had been captured by the Royalists and they held it for 11 weeks.) The church tower was hit by the enemy and the top of the tower was blown off, sending "Humpty" tumbling to the ground. Naturally the King's men* tried to mend him but in vain."
* NB: The "King's men" would have been infantry troops, and the "King's horses" the cavalry troops.]
canary; I have re-worked with images, the whole of Apollinaire's Cortège. This is the introduction I wrote for the catalogue of my exhibition;
Le Cortège d'Orphée
(The Procession of Orpheus)
In Greek mythology Orpheus was the greatest musician and poet that ever lived, his music had the power to reverse the natural order of things. When Orpheus sat in a forest- clearing, took up his lyre and sang, it was music unlike any other, every animal within hearing was lulled into stillness and listened as bewitched, even rocks and trees uprooted themselves and clustered around. Then he would lead the throng in dance, an undulating line that swayed back and forth like the ebb and swell of the sea, this was the procession of Orpheus, Le Cortège d'Orphée.
Le Bestiaire, ou Cortège d'Orphée was begun by Guillaume Apollinaire in 1906 and published in 1911 as an 'édition de luxe'. It is a modern version of the medieval bestiaries: a book of marvels containing domestic and exotic animals linked together by images of Orpheus. Altogether there are thirty pictures, each with an accompanying short poem.
It was hand-printed and illustrated with wood-cuts by Raoul Dufy, (Picasso was to have supplied the pictures, but only got as far as the first two, an eagle and a chicken, these were not used.) The first edition consisted of only 120 copies, most of which remained unsold.
The selection of animals chosen by Apollinaire was, Le Boeuf (The Ox), La Carpe (The Carp), La Chenille (The Caterpillar), Le Chat (The Cat), Le Cheval (The Horse), La Chèvre du Thibet (The Tibetan Goat), La Colombe (The Dove), Le Condor (The Condor), Le Dauphine (The Dolphin), Le Dromadaire (The Dromedary), L'Écrevisse (The Crayfish), L'Éléphant (The Elephant), Le Hibou (The Owl), L'Ibis (The Ibis), Le Lapin (The Rabbit), Le Lièvre (The Hare), La Lion (The Lion), La Meduse (The Jellyfish), La Mouche (The Fly), Le Paon (The Peacock), La Puce (The Flea), Le Poulpe (The Octopus), La Sauterelle (The Grasshopper), Le Serpent (The Serpent), La Sirène (The Siren), La Souris (The Mouse) and La Tortue (The Tortoise).
I added two myself; a unicorn and a woodlouse.
Hello Khandro - I had just seen this before I packed-in for the night.
I actually knew the 'Un petit d'un petit' verse! I came across 'French majors' arguing about it, way back when, in higher ed.. Seeing it written out and reading theinterpretations has been great fun.
(Je peut toi/tois?) Merci bien a tu, mon ami! C'etait tres interessante et enjoyable. Mai qu'est ce que on dois choisir! Comme ci - ou comme ca?!!!
Me, I'd like to fly - it takes such courage. I was too scared to submit work when I was younger. Now, (OK it's a small affair, probably a lot of chaps and beer in a village hall) I have been invited to read some of my poems at the High Wolds Poetry Festival in N.Dalton next month. Even that small exposure is a little scary. Dare I try to fly?.............. I'll let you know. :)
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