Philippe Soupault
Translated by Kirby Olson
Philippe Soupault (1897-1990) was one of the original French
Dada/Surrealists. He co-wrote with Andre Breton The Magnetic Fields, the
first work of literary Surrealism. Soupault's novel Last Nights of Paris was
translated by his friend William Carlos Williams.
LIFE-SAVING MEDAL
My nose is long like a knife
And my eyes are red from laughing
At night I collect milk and moon
And run without turning back
If the trees are afraid behind me
I make fun of them
Indifference is beautiful at midnight
Where are the people going
Pride of the cities
Village musicians
The crowd dances at top speed
And I am only an anonymous passerby
Or someone else whose name I’ve forgot
The sun will die in five billion years
I was born too soon perhaps
to die with the sun my only ambition
The flowers in front of me are already fading
and I shivered while smiling
the same shiver as the flag whose colors
have been beaten by the wind
Around me ants in five directions
throw themselves toward a death I have already refused
It's the great emptiness before me
when I turn toward my mirror
where I see engraved my wrinkles and hopes
Every morning, every evening
and on the face of my watch
like every evening, every morning
every second forgotten and lost
every swallow of alcohol
every puff of smoke
every cloudy night not yet finished
never or tomorrow again
a billion days and years
the rising and setting of the sun
the morning and evening
the same morning and the same evening