Je t’aime

by ddavidd   Feb 8, 2019


"I love you for all the women I have not known"
(Je t’aime), Paul Eluard

I read your verses for all the verses I have never read.
I feel your presence
for all the presences I have never sensed,
out there.

I see the faultlessness
in all the blemish shapes,
infinite love
in the finite man.
I see you in everything
I've ever seen
I've ever been,

I love you forever
in all the inadequacy of time,
You've been always with me
beyond all the walls and fences of space.
in all the branches
that palpitates the same love
the same rose,
flutters
the same dove,

for all the men
for the breed of mankind
the cavaliers
of the aurora's paths.

I see the poetry
in imperfect words,
in the castle of perfect dreams,
built in the imperfect world,
with the bricks of imperfect words,

I see
the fire you stole for mankind,
a Prometheus
in the chain of tongue,
link by link
word by word:

God
that only remembers himself
in poetry.

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  • 5 years ago

    by ddavidd

    Paul Eluard is my most treasured poet. Unfortunately his works are unknown to the English audience. My favorite poems of him is "Je t’aime" followed by "Liberty"... they say every warrier had a copy of "The Liberty" in his pocket, fighting versus Nazies in the trenches of ww2. When I read "Je t’aime" I know that was it: my favorite poem that I shall be humming when My time comes. Unfortunately only Frenchs and Persians relate and fall in love with this poem. English speaking audience particularly, below the waist of their poetic population, find that, of no significance at all. It must be a cultural thing. the Phrase: "I love you for all the women I have not known" is legend in my culture and French of course. I know Spanish poets like Neroda where in love with this piece too, and Lorca I guess, because he was a personal friend of Eluard.

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