Oh, what had I come to do in this crowded forest?
rd searched for a little silence in certain terms,
a little sun less exhausting than snow;
the woman with the heavy womb crossed my blood,
life, life burst out everywhere with greater vigor
I was born in
J
assy, what did I search for in Oran
(in the windows of beauty parlors, beautiful women?)
my
voyage finished, my past abolished,
where will my steps carry me? to what climes?
What human faces will call to me?
What super-human exhaustions?
I cannot listen to so many voices
all
at the same time.
Who speaks? What did I say? Who, who is it that hears?
Enough, enough, I say to you,
the weight of my body burdens me more than God,
I can no longer struggle against winds, against tides,
Can no longer walk; the roads are barred
-enough!
Translated from the French
by
Leonard Schwartz and E. M. Cioran
Henry
J.
M.
Levet
OUTWARDS
to Francis Jammes
The Armand Behic (of the Maritime Freight)
Speeds along at fourteen knots over the Indian Ocean
The sun sets in a jelly of crimes,
On this sea flattened as though by hand.
Miss Roseway, who is returning to Adelaide,
Towards Home Sweet Home and her Australian fiance,
Miss Roseway, alas, who has no cure for my ennui;
Her lorgnette fixed on the Laquedives, so far away ...
