Poem for Monday

Le Pont Mirabeau
By Guillaume Apollinaire

Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine
          Et nos amours
     Faut-il qu'il m'en souvienne
La joie venait toujours après la peine

     Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
     Les jours s'en vont je demeure

Les mains dans les mains restons face à face
          Tandis que sous
     Le pont de nos bras passe
Des éternels regards l'onde si lasse

     Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
     Les jours s'en vont je demeure

L'amour s'en va comme cette eau courante
          L'amour s'en va
     Comme la vie est lente
Et comme l'Espérance est violente

     Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
     Les jours s'en vont je demeure

Passent les jours et passent les semaines
          Ni temps passé
     Ni les amours reviennent
Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine

     Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
     Les jours s'en vont je demeure


Yes, more French poetry, because it's painfully lovely. Will try to find some comic French poetry that my humble translation skills can handle. In the meantime here's a hack job on this poem.


Mirabeau Bridge

Beneath Mirabeau Bridge the Seine flows
          And our loves
     Must I remember those
Joys which only arrived after woes

     The night arrives the hours wane
     The days go by I remain

Hand in clasped hand let us rest face to face
          While the bridge
     Of our hands holds in its embrace
The endless glance of this tired surging pace

     The night arrives the hours wane
     The days go by I remain

Love goes away like the water's flow
          Love goes away
     Slow as life is slow
And as violent as hope's crushing blow

     The night arrives the hours wane
     The days go by I remain

Another day becomes another week when
          Neither past time
     Nor past loves return again
Beneath Mirabeau Bridge flows the Seine

     The night arrives the hours wane
     The days go by I remain

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Do I want to be the only writer on the site working seven days a week? No. It's already insane. It's too much of my life.

Am I ready to have absolutely no regular employment, to be freelancing with not one cent guaranteed at the end of a month? Not really, but there has to be a better way than committing to seven days.

I have to figure out what to tell them.