The Yale Anthology of Twentieth-Century French Poetry

GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE

Always

To Madame Faure-Favier

Always
We’ll go forward never getting anywhere
And from planet to planet

From nebula to nebula
The Don Juan of a thousand and three comets
Even staying right here
Seeking new strength
Taking all spirits seriously.

And so many worlds lose sight of themselves
Which ones are best at forgetting
Making us forget this or that place
Where is the Columbus to whom we’ll owe the loss of a continent
Losing
But really losing
To leave room for the stroke of luck
Losing
Life to find Victory
—mary ann caws and patricia terry

The Little Car

The 31st day of August 1914
I left Deauville a little before midnight
In Rouveyre’s little car

With his driver there were three of us

We said goodbye to an entire epoch
Furious giants were rising over Europe
The eagles were leaving their aeries expecting the sun
The voracious fish were rising from the depths
The masses were rushing toward some deeper understanding
The dead were trembling with fear in their dark dwellings

The dogs were barking towards over there where the frontiers are
I went bearing within me all those armies fighting