Milky Way O Luminous Sister

Poem by Guillaume Apollinaire Collection AlcoolsThemes MiscellaneousPeriod 20th century

Milky Way O luminous sister
Of the white streams of Canaan
And the white bodies of lovers
Dead swimmers shall we follow with panting
Your course toward other nebulae

Regret of the whore’s eyes
And beautiful as a panther
Love your Florentine kisses
Had a bitter savor
That disgusted our destinies

Her glances left a train
Of stars in the trembling evenings
In her eyes swam the sirens
And our bitten bloody kisses
Made our fairy godmothers weep

But in truth I await her
With my heart with my soul
And on the bridge of Come Back
If ever that woman comes back
I shall say to her I am happy

My heart and my head empty themselves
All the sky flows out through them
O my Danaids’ barrels
How can one be happy
Like a candid little child

I never want to forget her
My dove my white harbor
O exfoliated daisy
My far-off island my Desirade
My rose my clove tree

The satyrs and the pyraustes
The aegipans the will-o’-the-wisps
And the destinies damned or auspicious
Rope around the neck as at Calais
On my sorrow what a holocaust

Sorrow that doubles destinies
The unicorn and the capricorn
My soul and my uncertain body
Flee you O divine pyre adorned
With stars with morning flowers

Woe pale god with ivory eyes
Have your mad priests adorned you
Your victims in black robes
Have they wept in vain
Woe god whom one must not believe

And you who follow me crawling
God of my gods dead in autumn
You measure how many spans
I have a right to that the earth give me
O my shadow O my old serpent

To the sun because you love it
I led you remember it well
Shadowy spouse whom I love
You are mine while being nothing
O my shadow in mourning for myself
Winter is dead all snowed under
They have burned the white hives
In the gardens and the orchards
The birds sing on the branches
Clear spring light April

Death of immortal argyraspides
The snow on the silver shields
Flees the livid dendrophores
Of the spring dear to poor people
Who smile again with moist eyes

And I have a heart as big
As a damascene lady’s ass
O my love I loved you too much
And now I have too much sorrow
The seven swords out of the scabbard

Seven swords of melancholy
Without edge O clear sorrows
Are in my heart and madness
Wants to reason for my misfortune
How do you expect me to forget

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-milky-way-o-luminous-sister-guillaume-apollinaire/