The Poet and his Lady

The goddess has shown herself
in you, Madame,
through the red roses of your eyes
and the purple carnation petals
of your lips!


And she has become substance
in the transcendent joy of your skin
and the charming crown of your pubis,
which resembles a peristyle of the ancient
world
with basalt columns
where angels drench poets
with water fallen from the heavens
collected in cycas palms
plunged into rain barrels!


Surely, a divine shower
engraved your face
upon a bronze leaf
with the burin of the stars
which shone down from above
upon the dark clouds,
while night yet descended
upon your vulva
which is like a fern from Brittany
or a Christmas rose!


And now I sing,
accompanying you on your saintly lute,
the slow penetration of my thought
into the winged portico of your forewings
in the form of an eye
picked from the garden
of a Chinese sage!


Consider, I beg you, dear lady,
consider your face
in this mirror which I hold before you
like a blossom from my orchard!


There you will see reflected the stigmata
of your zeal
in denouncing to the zephyr
your inextinguishable passion,
the consequence of my glorious preoccupation
with your impossible beauty!


Doubtless, it is a sign of predilection
that my preoccupation
with your remarkable grace
is celebrated in the upper strata
of the firmament by seraphim
who never concern themselves
with common beauties!


And doubtless also,
you are not subject to the inviolable law
which dictates that a distinguished woman
never abandons her haughty exterior
except in exchange for services rendered
by a gallant servant!


The only service you recognize with gratitude
is that I burn for you
with an immortal love
through which you can glimpse
a way of speaking and feeling
never before seen!

FROM THE COLLECTION OF POEMS "COEUR DE CINABRE"

PUBLISHED BY ENCRES VIVES, SEPTEMBER 2005.
TRANSLATED IN ENGLISH BY NORTON HODGES
ON SEPTEMBER THE 3RD, 2005