Flares – Rocket

Poem by Guillaume Apollinaire Collection CalligrammesThemes WarPeriod 20th century

The loop of black hair on your nape is my treasure
My thought joins yours and yours crosses it
Your breasts are the only shells I love
Your memory is the bearing lantern that helps us aim at night

Seeing the broad rump of my horse I thought of your hips

Here come the infantrymen going to the rear reading a newspaper

The stretcher-bearer’s dog comes back with a pipe in its mouth

A screech owl tawny wings dull eyes little cat’s mouth and cat’s paws

A green mouse darts through the moss

The rice has burned in the camp pot
That means one must beware of many things

The megaphone shouts
Extend the fire

Extend the fire love of your batteries

Swing heavy batteries cymbals
That cherubs mad with love shake
In honor of the God of Armies

A bare tree on a knoll

The noise of tractors climbing in the valley

O old world of the 19th century full of tall
chimneys so beautiful and so pure

Virilities of the century we live in
O cannons

Brilliant shells of 75s
Ring piously

Guillaume Apollinaire

Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.

Text published on Poésies 123: https://www.poesies123.com/en/poem-flares-rocket-guillaume-apollinaire/