LE BESTIAIRE ou CORTÈGE D'ORPHÉE

The TORTOISE

From magical Thrace--delight!

My sure fingers strum the lyre.

Animals troop past to the sound

Of my tortoise, of my songs. 

The HORSE

My hard, formal dreams will know just how to ride you,

My destiny in a gold chariot will be your hansome driver,

Who will take for reins, drawn tight in frenzy,

My verses, paragons of all poetry.

The TIBETAN GOAT

The fleece of this goat and even

The golden one that Jason labored for

Are worth nothing when compared

To the hair taht I'm in love with.

The SNAKE

You set yourself against beauty

And what women have been

Victims of your cruelty!

Eve, Eurydice, Cleopatra

I myself know three or four others.

The CAT

I want to have in my house:

A sensible woman,

A cat moving among the books,

Friends in every season,

Without which I can't live.

The lION

Oh lion, unhappy image

Of kings pitifully fallen,

Now you're born only in cages

In Hamburg, among the Germans.

 The HARE

Don't be timid and lewd

Like the buck hare and the lover.

But may your brain be always

The doe that conceives while pregnant.

 The RABBIT

I know another kind of rabbit

I wish I could take alive.

Her warren's amid the thyme

Of the valleys in the land of Tender.

 The DROMEDARY

With his four dromedaries

Dom Pedro de Alfarrobeira

Roamed the world and liked it.

He did what I'd do

If I had four dromedaries.

 The MOUSE

Beautiful days, mice of time,

You gnaw away my life bit by bit.

My God! I'm going to be twenty-eight--

a wasted life, as I wanted it.

 The ELEPHANT

As an elephant has his ivory,

So I have in my mouth precious goods.

Purple death!... I buy my glory

At the price of melodious words.

ORPHEUS

Look at this wretched herd

With its thousand feet, its hundred eyes:

Rotifers, mites, insects,

And microbes more wonderful

Than the seven wonders of the world

And Rosamund's palace!

The CATERPILLAR

Labor leads to riches

Poor poets, let's get to it!

The caterpillar, by his diligence,

Become the rich butterfly.

The FLY

Our flies know songs

Taught to them in Norway

By ganique flies which are 

Deities of the snow.

The FLEA

Fleas, friends, even lovers-

How cruel are those who love us!

All our blood is spilled for them.

It's the beloved who are wretched.

The GRASSHOPPER

Here's the fine grasshopper,

John the Baptist's food.

May my poetry be like it,

A treat for the best people.

ORPHEUS

May your heart be the bait and heaven the pond!

For, sinner, what fish of fresh water or ocean

In form or in flovor can equal

The beautiful, divine fish that is JESUS, My Savior?

The DOLPHIN

Dolphins, you romp in the sea,

But the waves are always bitter.

Yes, my joy breaks through at times.

But life is as hard as ever.

The OCTOPUS
Flinging his ink toward the heavens,
Sucking the blood from all he loves
And finding it delicious,
This inhuman monster is myself.

The JELLYFISH
Jellyfish, unfortunate heads
Of violet hair.
You take your pleasure in tempests
And I take mine there, too.

The CRAYFISH
Uncertainly, oh my delight,
You and I we get away
As crayfish do,
Backwards, backwards.

The CARP
In your pools, in your ponds,
Carp, you live such a long time!
Does death pass over you,
Fish of despondency?

ORPHEUS
The female halcyon,
Eros, the flying Sirens
Know deadly songs--
Dangerous, inhuman.
Don't listen to these doomed bird,
But to the angels of paradise.

The SIRENS
How should I know, Sirens, where your tedium comes from
When you moan in the night from far off the shores?
Sea, like you, I'm full of scheming voices
And my singing ships are called my years.

The DOVE
Dove, the love and the spirit
That engendered Jesus Christ,
Like you I love a Mary,
Whom I hope to marry.

The PEACOCK
When he spreads his tail this bird,
Whose plumage trails on the ground,
Seems more beautiful than ever
But reveals his rear end.

The OWL
My poor heart is an owl
They nail up, take down, nail up again.
It's run out of blood, of zeal.
All those who love me I commend.

IBIS
Yes, I'll go into the shadowy earth.
Oh certain death, so let it be!
deadly Latin, frightful word,
Ibis, bird of the banks of the Nile.

The OX
This cherubim recites the praise
Of paradise, where, close to the angels,
We'll live again, my dear friends,
When the good Lord allows.

NOTES
Admirez Le pouvoir insigne
Et la noblesse de la ligne.
Il love la ligne qui à forme les images, magnifiqueso rnements de ce divertissement  poétique
  Elle est la voix que la lumière fit entendre
Et dont parle Hermès Trismégiste en son Pimandre.

GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE
Illustrated with woodcuts by
RAOUL DUFY
Translations by LAUREN SHAKELY

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM
OF ART; NEW YOURK
COPYRIGHT 1977 by The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Apollinaire, Guillaume, 1880 - 1918