12
PARTISAN REVIEW
are the Frenchman's ideal
the depositaries
of the French virtues Frank speech and Franked gold
Ah look at them strut will you Hey
better watch where
you're trailing your tricolored flag
But
what is it knives the town in two
what is that train hurtling through
the great patriotic brothel
like a terrible bow over a violin
What is
that red streak that fresh fire that uproar
from the Chatelet to the Etoile
that blow of a fist
straight to the heart of a night-life party
that discordant sound
rising from the depths of the suburbs
and burying the hysteric strains of the Marseillaise
\Vhat is that flame at the head of the procession
that flame which pales your tiny fires
now that all fires are suddenly but the glow
of the red flag
The Soviets-Everywhere-the-Soviets-Everywhere
The Soviets-Everywhere
In the mud with the tricolored flag
Lours
ARAGON
(From the French
by
Samuel Putnam)
