Poems Found in Translation- French Poem=- A Z Foreman

Poems Found In Translation: “Guillaume Apollinaire: The Mirabeau Bridge (From French)”

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I have run this poem before but not in this translation Guillaume Apollinaire: The Mirabeau Bridge (From French) Posted: 11 Jun 2014 07:01 PM PDT This poem functions as a touching record of the end of Apollinaire's long love affair with Marie Laurencin, as Apollinaire himself wrote in a letter to Madeleine Pagès: "Le Pont Mirabeau est...la chanson triste de cette longue liaison brisée..." The familiar lyrical themes of time's passage and the end of love are linked symbolically with the river's flow in a confessional poem whose self-revelation is masked under the merest hint of irony and philosophical generalization. The unstoppable movement of events passing by the man fixed in his unhappiness is brilliantly conveyed by the refrain, as well as the structure of the poem whose first line is also its last, whose beginning is also its end. The development of the poem's typographical presentation between its appearance in Les Soirées de Paris and in the Les Alcools sheds light on Apollinaire's concern with the visual display of poetry. Lines 2 and 3 of each stanza originally in the printed version formed one line, giving a stanza of three monorhyme lines. The breaking up of the single line into two lines of unequal length gives a more interesting visual pattern. The removal of all punctuation also gives a more fluid and ambiguous flavor to the poem. The Mirabeau Bridge By Guillaume Apollinaire Translated by A.Z. Foreman Click here to hear me recite the original Below the Mirabeau bridge there flows the Seine So too our love Must I recall how then After each sorrow joy would come again Let night come toll hours away Days go by me here I stay Let us stay hand in hand face to face While down below The bridge of our embrace Roll the waves weary of our endless gaze Let night come toll hours away Days go by me here I stay Love goes away the way the waters flow Love goes away How life is long and slow How hope of life can deal so strong a blow Let night come toll hours away Days go by me here I stay The days the weeks are passing from our ken Neither time passed Nor love can come again Below the Mirabeau bridge there flows the Seine Let night come toll hours away Days go by me here I stay The Original: Le Pont Mirabeau Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine Et nos amours Faut-il qu'il m'en souvienne La joie venait toujours après la peine Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure Les jours s'en vont je demeure Les mains dans les mains restons face à face Tandis que sous Le pont de nos bras passe Des éternels regards l'onde si lasse Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure Les jours s'en vont je demeure L'amour s'en va comme cette eau courante L'amour s'en va Comme la vie est lente Et comme l'Espérance est violente Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure Les jours s'en vont je demeure Passent les jours et passent les semaines Ni temps passé Ni les amours reviennent Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure Les jours s'en vont je demeure