Bijou, bijou,
sparkling soft,
you tiny jewel,
you.

Bijou, bijou,
twinkling light
beautifies all
anew.

Bijou, bijou,
graceful charm
bestows an elegant
hue.

Bijou, bijou,
covet of many,
possession of
few.

Bijou, bijou,
a drop on a leaf
in the morning light,
dew.

A silhouette leaned back
Grey smoke distorted features demure;
Swirls riddled—smooth jazz syncopation
Her rouge lips cut through
The darkness.
She took a long drag on her
Cigarette, smoke rings evaporated
A halo around her.
Midnight blue eyes surveyed
The Bijou Café
Carpet pooled on the floor,
Blood soaked with wine,
Enclosed by onyx sheets,
The far wall a mirror.
A reflection of the souled and soulless.
Bar welcome strangers, friends,
The lonely.
Sharing drinks and memories
Vines intertwined customers
A perchance meeting;
Rendezvous of sorts.
Nameless faces and acquaintances
Dotted the room, a familiar skyline.

Lonely tower missing.
Smooth black fedora
Hearts sank ships as
Waves of embarrassment
Enveloped her; disappointment.
Crestfallen her eyes downtrodden
Soared with a door creak.
Black fedora entered,
Smooth—slick as oil

Eyes were hidden beneath
A veil of night;
Silence became him.
Hush fell on the crowd
As the shadow took the stage
Light pierced through,
Illuminating him.
Orbs locked
Reservation started to pass,

Voice velvet smooth
Played every heartstring
Notes of excitement
Tantalized her veins,

Pulse quickened;
Echoing every tempo change.
Music coursed through her being
Sensual; seductive
Notes caressed curves, valleys
Spaces in between.
Emotion—chord dependent
Voice penetrated skin
Music flowed through her.
A mountain peek high
Mind clouded—
Breath escaped her lungs.
Quiet murmur answered her comedown
An empty stage; stalwart eyes
Fingers replaced music
Lips brushed hers; taste—electric
Smile turned smirk; hollow presence
Musky cologne in wake.
Magnetic pull forward
Fedora exited
Midnight eyes transformed to dawn;
Abandoned beneath the awning
Familiar skyline flowed liquid.
Bijou Café
Neon sign loomed dark
Save for a letter
I illuminated.
Heart tendrils retreated,
Back to roots; betrayed
Tears turned to water
Liquid guilt—love died.

Fingers loosed
Memory;
Small matchbook of shame
Lingering of once upon a time
In the gutter; pouring rain.

I

In that November off Tehuantepec,
The slopping of the sea grew still one night
And in the morning summer hued the deck

And made one think of rosy chocolate
And gilt umbrellas. Paradisal green
Gave suavity to the perplexed machine

Of ocean, which like limpid water lay.
Who, then, in that ambrosial latitude
Out of the light evolved the morning blooms,

Who, then, evolved the sea-blooms from the clouds
Diffusing balm in that Pacific calm?
C'etait mon enfant, mon bijou, mon ame.

The sea-clouds whitened far below the calm
And moved, as blooms move, in the swimming green
And in its watery radiance, while the hue

Of heaven in an antique reflection rolled
Round those flotillas. And sometimes the sea
Poured brilliant iris on the glistening blue.

                        II

In that November off Tehuantepec
The slopping of the sea grew still one night.
At breakfast jelly yellow streaked the deck

And made one think of chop-house chocolate
And sham umbrellas. And a sham-like green
Capped summer-seeming on the tense machine

Of ocean, which in sinister flatness lay.
Who, then, beheld the rising of the clouds
That strode submerged in that malevolent sheen,

Who saw the mortal massives of the blooms
Of water moving on the water-floor?
C'etait mon frere du ciel, ma vie, mon or.

The gongs rang loudly as the windy booms
Hoo-hooed it in the darkened ocean-blooms.
The gongs grew still. And then blue heaven spread

Its crystalline pendentives on the sea
And the macabre of the water-glooms
In an enormous undulation fled.

                        III

In that November off Tehuantepec,
The slopping of the sea grew still one night
And a pale silver patterned on the deck

And made one think of porcelain chocolate
And pied umbrellas. An uncertain green,
Piano-polished, held the tranced machine

Of ocean, as a prelude holds and holds,
Who, seeing silver petals of white blooms
Unfolding in the water, feeling sure

Of the milk within the saltiest spurge, heard, then,
The sea unfolding in the sunken clouds?
Oh! C'etait mon extase et mon amour.

So deeply sunken were they that the shrouds,
The shrouding shadows, made the petals black
Until the rolling heaven made them blue,

A blue beyond the rainy hyacinth,
And smiting the crevasses of the leaves
Deluged the ocean with a sapphire blue.

                        IV

In that November off Tehuantepec
The night-long slopping of the sea grew still.
A mallow morning dozed upon the deck

And made one think of musky chocolate
And frail umbrellas. A too-fluent green
Suggested malice in the dry machine

Of ocean, pondering dank stratagem.
Who then beheld the figures of the clouds
Like blooms secluded in the thick marine?

Like blooms? Like damasks that were shaken off
From the loosed girdles in the spangling must.
C'etait ma foi, la nonchalance divine.

The nakedness would rise and suddenly turn
Salt masks of beard and mouths of bellowing,
Would--But more suddenly the heaven rolled

Its bluest sea-clouds in the thinking green,
And the nakedness became the broadest blooms,
Mile-mallows that a mallow sun cajoled.

                        V

In that November off Tehuantepec
Night stilled the slopping of the sea.
The day came, bowing and voluble, upon the deck,

Good clown... One thought of Chinese chocolate
And large umbrellas. And a motley green
Followed the drift of the obese machine

Of ocean, perfected in indolence.
What pistache one, ingenious and droll,
Beheld the sovereign clouds as jugglery

And the sea as turquoise-turbaned *****, neat
At tossing saucers--cloudy-conjuring sea?
C'etait mon esprit batard, l'ignominie.

The sovereign clouds came clustering. The conch
Of loyal conjuration *******. The wind
Of green blooms turning crisped the motley hue

To clearing opalescence. Then the sea
And heaven rolled as one and from the two
Came fresh transfigurings of freshest blue.

The tale below was carved one night
upon the stone, by candlelight
...most won’t believe, but some just might
.........most won’t believe, but some just might



                         Preface

An angel smiled, though teary eyed,
when James made Beth his lovely bride
...their bodies bound, their spirits tied
.........their bodies bound, their spirits tied

Upon her hand, a shimmer shone,
as bright as blood, a ruby stone
...and brighter still, as love has grown
.........and brighter still, as love has grown

Soon James was sent to man a sail
so Beth removed her wedding veil
...her eyes were moist, her face was pale
.........her eyes were moist, her face was pale

“Well, I’ll be here when you return”
said Beth to James, who kissed in turn
...a kiss that made her body burn
.........a kiss that made her body burn



                         BETH’S TALE

1.              The Dream

One night, within a dream deformed,
the cawing of a crow informed
“...the ship was struck where winter stormed
.........the ship was struck where winter stormed

Midst winds and waves the thunder boomed,
the Ship of Death was surely doomed
...the surf engulfed, the sea entombed
.........the surf engulfed, the sea entombed

Your James… deceived by Davy Jones!
With spirit freed, his flesh and bones
...now rest beneath the ashen stones
.........now rest beneath the ashen stones”



2.               The Quest

Awoken by the ebon wight
and beckoned by the baneful bight
...I left before the morning light
.........I left before the morning light

Throughout the realm I rode a roan
until, in time, I reached the stone
...where shades in dreams of darkness groan
.........where shades in dreams of darkness groan

While skipping up and down the sky
a missing moonbeam mocked my eye
...enough to make a swallow cry
.........enough to make a swallow cry

For someone stole a star or two
and something else that fate withdrew -
...my jewel of joy, my James Bijou  
.........my jewel of joy, my James Bijou

The shadows of the evening swelled
where demons of the dusk had dwelled
...and in the far, a vesper knelled
.........and in the far, a vesper knelled

The stone, beneath the sky, stood cold -
between the runes, a vapour strolled
...a cloak of fleecy fog consoled
.........a cloak of fleecy fog consoled

A raven on a branch, enthroned,
her wings waved once, a wail intoned
...beyond the bay, a banshee moaned
.........beyond the bay, a banshee moaned

I lay beside the stone, his bride,
I lay beside the stone and cried
...but were it I, instead, that died
.........but were it I, instead, that died

The rainbow of the moon fell dim,
a midnight swan soon ceased to swim
...as if to hide all hint of him
.........as if to hide all hint of him

Between the willows in the swale
bewailed a bird, a nightingale
...which left me faint, my body frail
.........which left me faint, my body frail



3.              Contact

I felt him breathe within a breeze
responding to my anguished pleas
...and leaves blew by abandoned trees
.........and leaves blew by abandoned trees

“Eternal love, my darling Beth”
enshrined within his final breath
...re-echoed from the Ship of Death
.........re-echoed from the Ship of Death

The stone lit up a ruby sheen
and clouds were kindled crystalline
...with consequences, unforeseen
.........with consequences, unforeseen

Above, the wretched raven soared
to where the Ship of Death’d been moored
...below, the icy ocean roared
.........below, the icy ocean roared



4.               Release

I’m joined with James beneath the stone,
and twixt the stars our souls are sown
...for nevermore to be alone
.........for nevermore to be alone



                         Epilogue
That night the wayward winds were weird,
the Ship of Death had disappeared
...coyotes called and mortals feared
.........coyotes called and mortals feared

At dusk, the craven shadows crawled,
at dawn, the winds of mourning called
...upon the stone two names were scrawled
.........upon the stone two names were scrawled

The raven sits, with wings outspread,
atop the stone which shades the dead
...it sometimes shimmers ruby red
.........it sometimes shimmers ruby red



                         Epitaph
Between the sounds, where silence seeps,
their love lives on and never sleeps
...and yet, the weeping willow weeps
.........and yet, the weeping willow weeps

He thwack no metronome to kick oneself
Thwack his **** sucker
With his monolithic flaccid trunk rubber
Me and my Dalek doped
And my excrement unsweetened
Copulate in the open without my jockstrap
You shat encrusted to what you deflowered
So at arm’s length ****** from all that we excreted in the wind’s eye
And I bounce a bedevilled backwash
My incredibles are shafted
I’ll **** **** to Arab

We only jabbered hasta la vista amongst homophones
I croaked a hundredweight arsonists
You **** posterior to her
And I **** **** to…
I **** **** to myself

I ****** you powerfully
The body beautiful’s not enough to go round
You enjoy spanking and I wallow in *******
And ***** is like a tobacco teabag
And I’m a bijou **** coming the corsets in custody

We only jabbered hasta la vista amongst homophones
I croaked a hundredweight arsonists
You **** posterior to her
And I **** **** to…

Arab, Arab, Arab, Arab, Arab, Arab, Arab
I **** **** to…
I **** **** to…

We only jabbered hasta la vista amongst homophones
I croaked a hundredweight arsonists
You **** **** to her
And I **** **** to Arab

Sweet Butterfly, with wings now dry 'tis time to break away
and light upon the leaves of dawn while weeping willows sway,
not reminisce 'bout chrysalis discarded yesterday,
but treasure life, with colors rife in nature's cabaret.

Sweet Butterfly, you sometimes sigh "terrene so strange and new”,
but take a chance, with winged expanse of fairy-like bijou,
to taste delight in random flight, to drift beyond the blue
and then collect her naked nectar, sipped in morning dew.

Sweet Butterfly, you question why the breeze is seldom soft
when swirling you, your wings askew, while floating free aloft.
Some seem to find their peace of mind believing gods have coughed,
but others, downed, have often found more freedom when they've scoffed.

Sweet Butterfly, you needn't cry, the fields are full of clover,
and meadowlands bare braided strands that winds in waves flow over -
but if you fear that, more than here, another mead is mauver,
just flutter by, beneath the sky, unfettered flitting rover.

Sweet Butterfly, farewell, goodbye, you've left this world behind.
I oft gaze back along the track of flowers that you've mined
recalling days of light sashays and movements unconfined
that complement the firmament where beauty lies enshrined.

Our first date at Rise
Holding your hand at the Firehouse Theater
Eating bagels you brought back from Montreal
Having lunch at Salata
Going to the Arboretum
The way you peeked out children’s house
Cuddling on the couch
Watching Game of Thrones
When you fell asleep in my arms
Drinking Amaretto Sours
When you would be silly
The sound of your voice
The maraschino cherry stem  you tied with your tongue
The Forget Me Not Flower Kit you gave me
Exchanging texts
The sound of incoming WhatsApp messages
Diner at Howard Wangs
You wearing bunny ears during Easter
36-28-41
When you posed for me
Your blues eyes looking up at me
Seeing your smile
Touching your lips
The way you smell
The secrets you would tell
Showing how you care
Hugging me tight
Letting me take care of you
When you cook Arepas
The gluten free Clafouti
The time you had the flu
Wearing Calvin Klein underwater
Your dainty feet  
Your goddess like figure
Your cute accent
Typing in the door bell code
Hearing you answer
The emoji of puppy heart kitten

Knowing you are my Bijou
Calling you Minou

(1)
I am the huckster of love, bibulous in love
She is my bijou, she is my billow
She is my Hob-goblin.
                       2
At dead of night she called me
I fell into oblivion
She came off with flying colors
I was impressed by her green eye
She was a pack of lies
I sailed, I sailed under her false colors
I sailed, I sailed under her false colors
                            3
These are the hows and whats of my love
Waiting to pay the debt of nature
Waiting for the call of my creator
Living to write my swan song, living to write my swan song
Expecting to write it ere long, expecting to write it ere long
                             4
I am the huckster of love, bibulous in love
She is my bijou, she is my billow
She is a hob-goblin.

~
Holding court at the Zanzibar,
they looked on good nights
like Egyptian Queens, like Ancient Babylonians.

On not so good nights,
they resembled Brassaï's Moma Bijou -
"fugitives from Baudelaire's bad dreams",
and even then they looked magnificent.

Identity wasn't something you nailed
yourself into in late adolescence.
It was a trick of the light,
and if you were to avoid
burning yourself out,
then you simply let the flames
lick over you
and turned the ashes into kohl.
~

LIVEN ON THE RAZORS EDGE

Remember how we used to dream
      the things that we were not
I was your knight in shining armor
      in our concrete Camelot
We played so many different parts
      like actors on a stage
We’d escape through picture magazines
      just by turning page to page

Back when we had nothing to lose
      by taking a chance by breaking the rules

When we were dead end kids living on the razors edge
     and I was King of the streets and you were queen of the avenue
When we were dead end kids living on the razors edge
     our castle was a run-down candy store our kingdom the theatre Bijou

And it’s good seeing you again
     though it’s been so many years
Since I played your Lancelot
     and you my Guinevere  
I’m glad to see those special times
     neither one of us forgot
And that we no long need to dreams
     the things that we are not

Back when we had nothing to lose
      by taking a chance by breaking the rules

When we were dead end kids living on the razors edge
     and I was King of the streets and you were queen of the avenue
When we were dead end kids living on the razors edge
     our castle was a run-down candy store our kingdom the theatre Bijou


sp-theatre / English / theater American English

         By VjKelly  1993  © for my song RAZORS EDGE

Another poem from the pen of my alter ego Barry Hodges

Half asleep, I sense you rise from the bed
Where we have shared love's passion,
Your sweaty body glistening as the dawn's early light
Peeks through the curtains of our ensuite bedroom.
O! To think that our great love affair must end
Now that your husband has threatened
To asphyxiate your six dear children
If you do not cast me aside like a worn out shoe.
And when I awake fully I find you gone forever,
The only souvenir of our last night together
Being a small squashed **** lying on the stained bedlinen.
O! How can I ever forget such a tragic awakening?

FOOTNOTE
[I knew from bitter experience of similar occurrences that dear old Mrs Bloggs (Seaview Bijou B&B;, The Esplanade, Ramsgate, Kent) was bound to make a hefty surcharge to disinfect the bedding thoroughly. What an unromantic old ***** she was, may she rot in Hell forever.]

I want to be somebody’s Bijou
Sought after and desirable,
Exquisitely wrought and elegant.
I want to be a delicate jewel
In the eyes of someone Special.

I want to be draped in Onyx and Jade
As signs of my social status
I want to know the way will be cleared
So I don’t get my shoes wet
And everyone will be glad for me.

I want to be the special one
The one more shiny than the rest.
The one that everybody wants.
The one that clearly is the best.
                    ljm

Within the nook of a dell,
a good distance
from obloquy
and inhibition,
floating on water,
listening to birdsong
descend down
the stream
of a musical scale.
Don’t need to believe
or even consent to
any critique,
any look-see,
you are free and light
on the surface,
buoyant and supple
beneath.

Languid movements,
reminiscent
of a weir,
cascade
and trickle,
springing forth
to orchestrate an overture.
This feeling is
beatific,
euphoric,
the moment one of
nonpareil,
bijou,
objet d’art,
and these transports
are yours only
to involuntarily
succumb to and relive:

Rhythmic waves
quivering
upon your shore,
as your limbs and spine camber.
It’s no wonder
you often lift
your voice in song.

From the moment I saw you
I was in love with you.

I watched as you floated around the room, like a butterfly collecting nectar, your eyes sparkled and glittered like thousands of facets off a diamond

As you moved, your hair undulated back and forth as if caught in a gentle ocean current

Your smile was magnificent, powerful, and awe inspiring, like the rising of the sun over a steamy exotic jungle

Across the room, you turned, our eyes met, and I felt a jolt, I had been harpooned through the heart. I could have fallen to my knees

I went from numb, stunned, to being on fire, with love and lust. I wanted you, wanted you so much. I could feel my primal urges and visceral needs rising and overwhelming me

I wanted to protect and provide for you, to build a house and hearth, to keep you safe and warm, a place to have and raise children, together

I wanted to hold you, feel you, in my arms, your head lying on my chest, snuggling, cuddling, purring like a newborn kitten

I wanted to look eternally in your crystal blue eyes, mesmerized at their depth and breath, like a endless desert sky

I wanted to kiss your lips, red, full, and moist like a rose on a French summer morn

You are a bijou, a jewel, like no other, rare, priceless, and precious, a gift to gods and men alike

I am grateful, for our brief, intense, and tumultuous love, like a shooting star across a darkening evening sky

i.

Cryeth not mine unearthly floret, for thou art good enough
Cryeth not, thine tear's art mine tear's, thine fear is mine fear;
Cryeth not mine pet, thine bijou vision's art met with mine own
Cryeth not holy apostle, thine anguishing jostle's across interweb.

ii.

Frowneth not mine protector, thine room awaiteth me to arrive
Frowneth not O' ethereal ressurector, I'm stuck sweetly in mind;
Frowneth not core of mine existence, thou art mine daily bread
Frowneth not, thine Thorn's art off, now they sit upon mine head.

iii.

Smile mine delicate sweet, I'm begging at thy feet for one laugh
Smile mine elegant treat, I'm more than happy, with thee blessed;
Smile mine earl Jane nagley, soon to taketh mine hand, two ring's
Smile mine dandy, we shalt meet soon, in ourn room, Bell's ding.



©Brandon nagley
©Lonesome poet's poetry
©Earl Jane nagley dedication

À Max Jacob.

Vers le palais de Rosemonde au fond du Rêve
Mes rêveuses pensées pieds nus vont en soirée
Le palais don du roi comme un roi nu s'élève
Des chairs fouettées des roses de la roseraie

On voit venir au fond du jardin mes pensées
Qui sourient du concert joué par les grenouilles
Elles ont envie des cyprès grandes quenouilles
Et le soleil miroir des roses s'est brisé

Le stigmate sanglant des mains contre les vitres
Quel archer mal blessé du couchant le troua
La résine qui rend amer le vin de Chypre
Ma bouche aux agapes d'agneau blanc l'éprouva

Sur les genoux pointus du monarque adultère
Sur le mai de son âge et sur son trente et un
Madame Rosemonde roule avec mystère
Ses petits yeux tout ronds pareils aux yeux des Huns

Dame de mes pensées au cul de perle fine
Dont ni perle ni cul n'égale l'orient
Qui donc attendez-vous
De rêveuses pensées en marche à l'Orient
Mes plus belles voisines

Toc toc Entrez dans l'antichambre le jour baisse
La veilleuse dans l'ombre est un bijou d'or cuit
Pendez vos têtes aux patères par les tresses
Le ciel presque nocturne a des lueurs d'aiguilles

On entra dans la salle à manger les narines
Reniflaient une odeur de graisse et de graillon
On eut vingt potages dont trois couleurs d'*****
Et le roi prit deux œufs pochés dans du bouillon

Puis les marmitons apportèrent les viandes
Des rôtis de pensées mortes dans mon cerveau
Mes beaux rêves mort-nés en tranches bien saignantes
Et mes souvenirs faisandés en godiveaux

Or ces pensées mortes depuis des millénaires
Avaient le fade goût des grands mammouths gelés
Les os ou songe-creux venaient des ossuaires
En danse macabre aux plis de mon cervelet

Et tous ces mets criaient des choses nonpareilles
Mais nom de Dieu !
Ventre affamé n'a pas d'oreilles
Et les convives mastiquaient à qui mieux mieux

Ah ! nom de Dieu ! qu'ont donc crié ces entrecôtes
Ces grands pâtés ces os à moelle et mirotons
Langues de feu où sont-elles mes pentecôtes
Pour mes pensées de tous pays de tous les temps.

One morning, I met and ate with Sappho, and
as we watched the baited ducklets come and go
described to her a calming Violet i had found
within where seeded crops of crocuses grow
who strapped the sunlight as its belle bijou
and subtle symmetry that provided words
to break the heart and warm the blush skin of you
I told her of broken morning birds
simple songs robbed by her brushed deviled tips
I cried of endless pages cast in ink
to describe her perfect purple lips
of desperate letters to help me understand how her love thinks
All other stem of Violetta fail to me
to remind of the shadow cast over flowers then
or to undermine those bright pink cheeks i could see
in its petal hues - usual rhythm couldn't convey to pen
this wild moss of a creature that heavn's sink....
a smile, and she replied
"a picked and pressed flower
for a Violet of my own", said the Girl.

i.

Buoyant, as bubbly toddler's, giggly as drunkard's on a midnight
Swoon. Though sober, ourn limb's limber, high as we osculate;
Her countenance is seductive, her saliva reproductive, none to crosseth ourn citadel; a playground carousel, ourn kid's to relate.

ii.

O' crème de la crème, the kalinaw that thou hast brought
The solace that I hath sought, awaiteth in thine intellect of light;
Beyond the grave's of death and fright, on a train, or just one
Flight, I shalt meeteth thee mine amare, between the bijou veil.

iii.

In novel's, In tale's, on bookshelves, in robust detail, when the fall
Arriveth, and the winter enter's, when Hades breaketh loose;
As the universe loses it's center, and the Cosmos goes to blood, as the planetoid's faileth, a letter in the mail, mine heart sail's.

©Brandon nagley
©Earl Jane nagley dedication
©Lonesome poet's poetry founder.

If you think you're lonely now, you probably are
Do you find yourself wishing upon stars?
Friends and family are mere garments for your soul
When the night falls, you're still left feeling cold
Do you find yourself more busy than usual?
Are you occupying your mind with things that are trivial
Will you drown yourself in poetic verses
Let me say this again I don't think you heard this
Will you drown yourself in poetic verses
If you think you're lonely now, there's no app or service
Do you place yourself in a crowd of people
Do you bow your head and pray under a steeple?
Praying your soul to rest and that God may keep you
Yet still among the masses no one can see you
Love lost love never found, the loneliness is equal
When you tap on your keys and reach out overseas
looking for someone to greet you
If you think you're lonely now
You'll feel lonelier knowing they'll never meet you
Oh the disparity of it all, the pain to just be you
Are you praying again, for life to just leave you?
Or will you occupy that single seat at a matinee at the Bijou
if you think you're lonely now, I believe you.

We love urban, ice wrapper choc full, dense with matter, cream the power runs through, finding space, each cell. Unit, one by one, stacked upon deck, pile, floating concrete and multi access path. Crank each floor, glass patent steel, glint the Thames, Humber and Clyde, a boat in the reflection, slum cleared gentle penthouses on the other side. Dogged, ***** not allowed, Barking, Hackney, Toxteth, Little Ireland aka Cardiff gone. Dodo, hatchet, escalate poverty, high rise cool, the high rise flat.  Crowning glory, a sea of chiming memories, stirs the tenement cat. Swept beneath the paradigm, catapult off the parapet, somersault into a different time, moonlit skyscrapers, street sweepers become the concrete and the fifty foot glass dancers, cross between the cargo arches, gargoyles and shields bring them to the ground. The twisted metal of prams and brand new cars grind, traffic in drones, and the city drowns. Strip turn central, gorgeous girl, Hoxton lad, a touch too Dad, deposit on a Liverpool street pad, generation retro spinning fractal, money linear pavement uber yellow, scuttling insects and street martins, skylarks flying Saint Pauls cross and ball bearings, shopping centres unending. Biting into Cheapside, the hidden livers, gold delivers, pure to stay the shivers, the office block rises. Sharp bends, the bridge divides, shark rides the sky, dumps the bank and pierces its side, docks in every city worldwide, rivers pink with the ticklish blood of regicide. Pumpish, Victorian, sweet and blue, the older the City the quicker the glue. Mortar rectified a moment to ***** and overawe you. Shock, new wave architecture, backhanded awe. Brum pill wave beast eat your heart out, find another Chinese storm, currency blizzard, scales hardly balance, aha you had it, now you simply own. Own the moment, the pebbledash, corrugated roof, outside toilet and underground transit. We love urban, your moment we cherish and drain, there is nothing we can’t refuse to understand, too complex to refrain. Bounce as we ride the terrace and its suburban long train. Take your sweetheart on the nightbus, ****** him her, the hier of your plane, that’s where they will love you in the memories of the life near the top floor, and the final flight you were too drunk to gain. Seventy Two, you’re only thirty and you’re on forty one. You’ll fall back or you’ll begin ascendency. Shrink with wisdom, pick up the building, a tool, dreaming of scaling London, young a journeyman, jousters young son, learned, resisted the gun. I’ll fight with two hands, pile bricks or guide with a pen. Draw your city, write my memory, bind moment with every fragment, underpath, cycle through. Lights fading, jumping colours in the district where the girls who live the density beyond you and me, each element boiling their hearts and steaming potent New York’s paths. You had poetry in the apron of your mother’s lap, golden syrup and milky sap. You love urban, fifties bubble contrast in your seventies shunted through urban oasis and with that unknown factor, uber bijou, ‘Finding Nemo’ flat. We are urban, you are fashion, you are the generation that copied that, found the culture in the swinging city, post uni shack. Seven Eleven, Atlantic side heaven, promised more than double checking your watch before bedtime. Look at your daughter, she’s got ‘more than’ you hoped for, already in the palm of her sleeping hands, waking up to a metropolis only she will understand.

The actor burst into the bar
"Give me a double shot"
"And get ready with another"
"The strongest stuff you've got"

The barkeep, poured the whiskey
Pushed the glass across the bar
The actor downed the double
and put a twenty in the jar

"Tonight at my audition"
"As I finished up on stage"
"I was questioned by a fellow"
"Who was from a different age"

The barkeep poured another
And he downed this one himself
Then he turned for just a second
And grabbed a bottle from the shelf

The actor told the barkeep
Every single solitary word
The barkeep was transfixed
By everything he heard

"I came off stage...just to the right"
"There was a man there in the dark"
"He said that I was wonderful"
"Though his voice was rather stark"

"He said he didn't know the play"
"That I had just read for"
"I told him it was Webber"
"He asked if I'd done any more"

"I told him of my background"
"Phantom and Waiting for Godot"
"He said those must be recent"
"Those are two I do not know"

"He told me that he'd been working there"
"For almost all his life"
"He spoke of Ziegfields follies"
"That was where he'd met his wife"

"He asked if I'd done anything"
"Something maybe he would know"
"Something with some music"
"A gala kind of show"

The phone rang, breaking up the tale
The barkeep let it go
This tale was more important
Than anyone would ever know

"I told him, I'd done Joseph"
"Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice"
"He just looked clear on through me"
"He said that that was nice"

"He talked of all he'd seen there"
"Chaplin, and others out on tour"
"He told me of the strippers'
"And many, many, more"

"These were way before my time though"
"These were way back in the day"
"He mentioned shows in blackface"
"I knew not what to say"

"I tried to focus on him"
"But, I truly couldn't see"
"He spoke about the theater"
"He asked a bit 'bout me"

"He said this one's an old girl"
"I said that much was true"
"I said it holds a spirit"
"He smiled, like he knew"

The bottle now half empty
The words were pouring just as fast
The barkeep grabbed another
For this one wouldn't last

"I said I've heard the spirit"
"Sits up , right over there"
"In the upper level seating"
"Row three, right by the stair"

"He didn't look to see it"
"I'm sure he knew the seat by heart"
"He said to keep the theater living"
"We all must play a part"

"You, you are an actor"
"Though I know little of your work"
"But, it's part of the grand circle"
"It's a duty, not to shirk"

"Me, I'm ....well I' guess you'd say"
"I'm a caretaker if you will"
"I help to keep the status quo"
"Though I'm never on the bill"

"I moved a little closer"
"To where the voice was coming from"
"There was a coldness and a silence"
"And the old man, he was gone"

"I heard a seat get lowered"
"Three rows in beside the stair"
"And I looked and saw his shadow"
"In the velvet, theater chair"

"I may just be an actor"
"But, this spirit was my host"
"I'd spent nearly an hour"
"With the Bijou's theater ghost"

The barkeep, stood in silence
Two more glasses to the brim
"Are you sure that's who you talked to?"
"Are you sure that it was him?"

The actor pushed the stool back
"I am as sure as sure can be"
"I saw the keeper of the theater"
"And I know that he saw me"

(À une jeune étrangère.)

Quand tes beaux pieds distraits errent, ô jeune fille,
Sur ce sable mouillé, frange d'or de la mer,
Baisse-toi, mon amour, vers la blonde coquille
Que Vénus fait, dit-on, polir au flot amer.

L'écrin de l'Océan n'en a point de pareille ;
Les roses de ta joue ont peine à l'égaler ;
Et quand de sa voluté on approche l'oreille,
On entend mille voix qu'on ne peut démêler.

Tantôt c'est la tempête avec ses lourdes vagues,
Qui viennent en tonnant se briser sur tes pas ;
Tantôt c'est la forêt avec ses frissons vagues ;
Tantôt ce sont des voix qui chuchotent tout bas.

Oh ! ne dirais-tu pas, à ce confus murmure
Que rend le coquillage aux lèvres de carmin,
Un écho merveilleux où l'immense nature
Résume tous ses bruits dans le creux de ta main ?

Emporte-la, mon ange ! Et quand ton esprit joue
Avec lui-même, oisif, pour charmer tes ennuis,
Sur ce bijou des mers penche en riant ta joue,
Et, fermant tes beaux yeux, recueilles-en les bruits.

Si, dans ces mille accents dont sa conque fourmille,
Il en est un plus doux qui vienne te frapper,
Et qui s'élève à peine aux bords de la coquille,
Comme un aveu d'amour qui n'ose s'échapper ;

S'il a pour ta candeur des terreurs et des charmes ;
S'il renaît en mourant presque éternellement ;
S'il semble au fond d'un cœur rouler avec des larmes ;
S'il tient de l'espérance et du gémissement...

Ne te consume pas à chercher ce mystère !
Ce mélodieux souffle, ô mon ange, c'est moi !
Quel bruit plus éternel et plus doux sur la terre,
Qu'un écho de mon cœur qui m'entretient de toi ?

A strawberry red bale
that gratitude was dale
but her waist ran a bijou
a chestful day in May  

and her thigh was derry with such a motif
that was ye trumpet from Sunnyvale tonight

where her sweet tooth went ravishingly bare
while incredible vibration she'd shareware
indeed, a variation hypnotically sound
like her chestnut roasting bonfire where

tactfully dressed in love attire
we happen to know that travel so far
with the web now our thoroughfare

and dire by dawn fit her ankle again
that entail her sprangle
though her selfie is the grandeur soon
with foetuses In her bottom.

You toss a coin
or turn a card
anyway you throw the dice
you know that life is hard
so you want to take it easy in some nice bijou apartment
but you know that 'heaven sent'
is just a figment of imagination.
Creation's just a spirograph
it makes you cry
it makes you laugh
and in the end
someone will send an 'etch a sketch' to wipe you clean.

So fetch your dream ******* in bows
tie it to the arrows of the discontent
let them fly off to our parliament
and then forget,
that we were once the future that was told
but now we're old
we are expendable.

Je n'ai pas pour maîtresse une lionne illustre :
La gueuse, de mon âme, emprunte tout son lustre ;
Invisible aux regards de l'univers moqueur,
Sa beauté ne fleurit que dans mon triste coeur.

Pour avoir des souliers elle a vendu son âme.
Mais le bon Dieu rirait si, près de cette infâme,
Je tranchais du Tartufe et singeais la hauteur,
Moi qui vends ma pensée et qui veux être auteur.

Vice beaucoup plus grave, elle porte perruque.
Tous ses beaux cheveux noirs ont fui sa blanche nuque ;
Ce qui n'empêche pas les baisers amoureux.
De pleuvoir sur son front plus pelé qu'un lépreux.

Elle louche, et l'effet de ce regard étrange
Qu'ombragent des cils noirs plus longs que ceux d'un ange,
Est tel que tous les yeux pour qui l'on s'est damné
Ne valent pas pour moi son oeil juif et cerné.

Elle n'a que vingt ans ; - la gorge déjà basse
Pend de chaque côté comme une calebasse,
Et pourtant, me traînant chaque nuit sur son corps,
Ainsi qu'un nouveau-né, je la tette et la mords,

Et bien qu'elle n'ait pas souvent même une obole
Pour se frotter la chair et pour s'oindre l'épaule,
Je la lèche en silence avec plus de ferveur
Que Madeleine en feu les deux pieds du Sauveur.

La pauvre créature, au plaisir essoufflée,
A de rauques hoquets la poitrine gonflée,
Et je devine au bruit de son souffle brutal
Qu'elle a souvent mordu le pain de l'hôpital.

Ses grands yeux inquiets, durant la nuit cruelle,
Croient voir deux autres yeux au fond de la ruelle,
Car, ayant trop ouvert son coeur à tous venants,
Elle a peur sans lumière et croit aux revenants.

Ce qui fait que de suif elle use plus de livres
Qu'un vieux savant couché jour et nuit sur ses livres,
Et redoute bien moins la faim et ses tourments
Que l'apparition de ses défunts amants.

Si vous la rencontrez, bizarrement parée,
Se faufilant, au coin d'une rue égarée,
Et la tête et l'oeil bas comme un pigeon blessé,
Traînant dans les ruisseaux un talon déchaussé,

Messieurs, ne crachez pas de jurons ni d'ordure
Au visage fardé de cette pauvre impure
Que déesse Famine a par un soir d'hiver,
Contrainte à relever ses jupons en plein air.

Cette bohème-là, c'est mon tout, ma richesse,
Ma perle, mon bijou, ma reine, ma duchesse,
Celle qui m'a bercé sur son giron vainqueur,
Et qui dans ses deux mains a réchauffé mon coeur.

Vu. { as long as any story's told wrong}

- suffer not a novice to teach

No bet. Nothing wagered, no pledge to be paid,
no bet was made between the unspeakable name,

core processing access id-entity… we'll call Truth.
And time, if there were a wager, Truth be against Time.

- thus we develop a worth for attention.

The way life works super resiliently, bouncing back
after starry chaos leaves a constant possibility
for truths beyond our scale of instant relativity
to manifest as seems with none the wiser,

the sun could flick us from existance, and be
acting as naturally as all such suns act
after a while, maybe

seven minutes ago.
---
listening to me bellyache and moan,
woe is me I am good for nothing.

Hmmm. I could just die, but then, there
would be just cause to believe me selfish,
and selfish is something I try not to be, in fact.

Information flow, twists awry through held truths,
never taken apart to reset the spring.

Nietsche was wrong about a lot of things.
Knowing he had a voice he could
convince himself was otherwise,
he had a real raw idea of God.
That's good.
Not useless, mostly used up. Flame.

That's what the real old *** in me said.
Fretting naught,
letting go all wishery wasery,
growing old effortlessly,
be causing, as wishes are supposed,
sup-post,
same as prayers properly aimed, to
be collected to be
be answered, as information related
to pain in the brain or heart, or core
mental effort processing part, which
detects and destroys the infecting barb.
Just in time.
Release relief, unbelievable lies,
pile into icy dams, late spring
in truth
past all thorny issues,
life is not intentionally difficult,
ants - the super colony kind
run vast ecology balancing systems,
on auto pilot, pure intuitive duty drives.
On a global scale, spreading without war.

We can see we can be better rich than poor.
We can see we live on a wet ball spun
along a spiral in a spiral in a spiral, and so, on
and on and on, looping the grand loop, a little
farther along than last time,

our eyes have seen the glory, our children
can imagine thought speed, information passing

as time carries matters to gravitationally bound
points past which nothing is ever the same,

because you, cause me, to cause you to imagine
we share a plane conscious level,
as we stare across the heavens from JWST,

just adjusting reasonable focus, is it asking
too much? Asking to effect the healing
with truth that cannot be denied, and be truth
indeed…

Whatsoever, whensover, so today is fine,

infinitely fine, as a whole time bit, with us in it.

Who arranged the world's laws of nations,
?
not men in my general class, retired disabled
boys used in immoral warfare, and paid glory

and allowed to march in war winner parades,
even though, Wounded Knee and My Lai,

fester under America's Exceptional Blessing.

Agricultural superfluity, aided by machines,
and the modern incarnation of king control,
usurious
war debt, cost of plunder,
always need latest enemy detection tech.
- Confidential is above us all down here.

Who you gonna call to collect on reneged
deals, see the big picture, be visionary,
wars are lost for want of a nail, a nail
that woulda been seen missing, if the smith's
bills had been paid in time for precharge inspection.

Who allows evil to prosper,
who prospers from peace never made?

imagine you're the powerful and magnificent
leader of North Korea, or a Metro-mega Church.

You quote Lincoln, and agree with the great
promoters of idle time boredom prevention,
knowing you can fool some of the people,
all of the time. And some of the people
a predictable percentage of the time,

and all the people, after a while.  

Oakridge radiant Gospel,
"you listen too long
  you do eventually die."

- and thus it came to pass
- none found fusion, pfft.
Deep mindtimespace silence

Nonsense to any, therapy to me,
the effectual fervent prayer,

which is really
closer to need announcing, auto
awareness, missing pieces, up
ethos more or
pathos, up path of logos,
as winds winding times
recurrency circuits
up right
is not.
Down is not. Here is midway,
midterm… middle distance
**** sapien augmentedus
in the net spread
in the sight of radio beacons.
submicrowave accuracy,
acutron concept of counting
seconds worth of your attention

Practically stretched
past tensile strand strength

stretching to a C-note,
harmonica

calling all my musing friends,
come hang with me,
in my tree.

In the forest of humanity,
the ant intuitive interconnecting -umph
-- last stack, let patience prove possession --
---- Pa-airing Suckacessfull…
Yeah, blue tooth vestibular augments.
-- I can hear birds now.
Who is on war's side, if this were after
I made my case and closed it,
this is the future when we have
global access to once secret libraries.
5g- ****… radio directly individuated,
as once first accounts were coded, so
now, we are our comm device's user,
we filter using truths we used
and proved just so, we lived

asking truth to show itself in ways
a mortal who labored fifty years,
could be led to expect, jubilee,
boom,
I am free, and I am not uncomfortable,
U may read my mind and find news,
formed from used theories untwisted,

and stretched to the extent of one man's
heart fire, expanded with knowledge,
edified with activated agape, lief be,

take a second, what's such a bit of being
left alone, at second glance, become,

some kinda curious thing, clap trap.

****, all wishery is yours, it's time again,

to review the prayer/wish fullfillment section.

Did you, dear, oh, dear, what, what makes
dear the lessons life teaches for your attention,

no price, a quote, a song
"Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you without money,
come, buy, and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost!"

Isaiah 55, thriving on hope deferred,

refer again to the references,

decide yourself if you believe James I of England
was at any point a person you could work for?

My task is not to teach, unless my life proves
worth my continuing continuance, thinking

plinking, *** shots, clang… in the olden days,

when a family could live by a prentice knack,  
for taking things  apart, to play new roles,

as whole days that may be shared with wary
few, readers readied by experience, to become

as ware, soft, observant, paying eyeservice,
alert for entertaining clap traps when we all laugh.

Okeh, in a dark bijou-kiva, place where aspirations
are presented to the gathered together
to be entertained, de-brained, turned off, and

let be so, the picture show, as it were,
in the so esoterical initial induction, holiness exposed.

It is all in what you did not know, that makes
what you know now, worth living
through.

Yep. Fishing for a whole reality blessing
as living water
does occur to us as time,
we live in the flow, but we row,

because war rules the world we were born in,
and all the churches of messages etched in spirit,
written in light, of course, as on the silvered screen,
live to preach divine rights as old as lobsters's
stacking urges…
tapping scratching

And fire and memories paradiddling
cloudy smoky misty
shapes and shades noise uselessness knowing inspiring
zingers written on the door post, for good luck.

I read a coloring book, once, at a mall, in La Jolla.
"Grandma keeps a Kosher Kitchen" had a scene
to color yourself into, as a curious child noticing,
the little thing Grandma touched as she came in
from the garden of herbs and flowers for bees,

"what is that for?"
In the uncolored coloring book, it was so nonchalant,
"Good luck."
Grandma's grasp the lucid concept.
- food you know not of, love… luck
Thanks given. Praised be.

Long stories, should only be told as true,
if you, personally… lived to tell it, with no sugar on it.

Bitte, Schön. And so it goes. Kosher us, unclean other.

And what am I? Wild child left between the pillar
and the post of an aspiring great man, whose hopes

were dashed, when he crossed a line, in other peoples
ways of sealing soul stealing redemption agreements,

with a shotgun one potential solution…

by the grace of good luck from any source such
luck appears to have kept me breathing, aimlessly

as I imagine a spirit might decide, in truth, one breath
let go , allows a sense to follow, as glowing cardboard ash,
as the teller zones across old causes fought for and won,

which winning needs another singing, which cheek
this time? Which last laugh is led upto, now,

as I acknowledge the precious readers who form
the recognostic think thank thing,
deja deja

.and if we went beyond wonder and wondered where we were
would we bother if we ever got there
together
would we wrap our dreams and tether them to the walls of our longings
in stockings would we walk
into the soft lilting talk of desirious strangers
and be aware of the dangers of
the femme fatale.
Fatal or not I think that's what we got
when we opened the lucky dip
when she tore that strip off you
for the man you could not be
and when she did see you were the man for her
you weren't even there
but were in Germany
building the bijou's they see in glossy magazines
pulled out of the fancy dreams
of the hoi polloi
boy
you didn't see that as you sat in your hightower flat drinking tequila
she served up your head on a platter
to friends who chattered inanities
above the
the lamps and the canopies.

Life is tough I told you so
the woman will know when you've had enough
and stuff you full of her vanity
another profanity on your lips
but it all slips away when you hear her say,
'are you coming to bed dear'
and you know that the end's near.but you cannot decide
between her and the ride
down to hell

GASTIBELZA, l'homme à la carabine,
Chantait ainsi :
« Quelqu'un a-t-il connu doña Sabine ?
Quelqu'un d'ici ?
Dansez, chantez, villageois ! la nuit gagne
Le mont Falù ().
- Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
Me rendra fou !

« Quelqu'un de vous a-t-il connu Sabine,
Ma señora ?
Sa mère était la vieille maugrabine
D'Antequera,
Qui chaque nuit criait dans la Tour-Magne
Comme un hibou... -
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
Me rendra fou !

« Dansez, chantez ! Des biens que l'heure envoie
Il faut user.
Elle était jeune et son œil plein de joie
Faisait penser. -
A ce vieillard qu'un enfant accompagne
Jetez un sou ! ... -
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
Me rendra fou.

« Vraiment, la reine eût près d'elle été laide
Quand, vers le soir,
Elle passait sur le pont de Tolède
En corset noir.
Un chapelet du temps de Charlemagne
Ornait son cou... -
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
Me rendra fou.

« Le roi disait en la voyant si belle
A son neveu :
- Pour un baiser, pour un sourire d'elle,
Pour un cheveu,
Infant don Ruy, je donnerais l'Espagne
Et le Pérou ! -
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
Me rendra fou.

« Je ne sais pas si j'aimais cette dame,
Mais je sais bien
Que pour avoir un regard de son âme,
Moi, pauvre chien,
J'aurais gaîment passé dix ans au bagne
Sous le verrou... -
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
Me rendra fou.

« Un jour d'été que tout était lumière,
Vie et douceur,
Elle s'en vint jouer dans la rivière
Avec sa sœur,
Je vis le pied de sa jeune compagne
Et son genou... -
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
Me rendra fou.

« Quand je voyais cette enfant, moi le pâtre
De ce canton,
Je croyais voir la belle Cléopâtre,
Qui, nous dit-on,
Menait César, empereur d'Allemagne,
Par le licou... -
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
Me rendra fou.

« Dansez, chantez, villageois, la nuit tombe !
Sabine, un jour,
A tout vendu, sa beauté de colombe,
Et son amour,
Pour l'anneau d'or du comte de Saldagne,
Pour un bijou... -
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
Me rendra fou.

« Sur ce vieux banc souffrez que je m'appuie,
Car je suis las.
Avec ce comte elle s'est donc enfuie !
Enfuie, hélas !
Par le chemin qui va vers la Cerdagne,
Je ne sais où... -
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
Me rendra fou.

« Je la voyais passer de ma demeure,
Et c'était tout.
Mais à présent je m'ennuie à toute heure,
Plein de dégoût,
Rêveur oisif, l'âme dans la campagne,
La dague au clou... -
Le vent qui vient à travers la montagne
M'a rendu fou ! »

Le 14 mars 1837.


Le mont Falù : Prononcer mont Falou.

I


Las de ce calme plat où d'avance fanées,

Comme une eau qui s'endort, croupissent nos années ;

Las d'étouffer ma vie en un salon étroit,

Avec de jeunes fats et des femmes frivoles,

Echangeant sans profit de banales paroles ;

Las de toucher toujours mon horizon du doigt.


Pour me refaire au grand et me rélargir l'âme,

Ton livre dans ma poche, aux tours de Notre-Dame ;

Je suis allé souvent, Victor,

A huit heures, l'été, quand le soleil se couche,

Et que son disque fauve, au bord des toits qu'il touche,

Flotte comme un gros ballon d'or.


Tout chatoie et reluit ; le peintre et le poète

Trouvent là des couleurs pour charger leur palette,

Et des tableaux ardents à vous brûler les yeux ;

Ce ne sont que saphirs, cornalines, opales,

Tons à faire trouver Rubens et Titien pâles ;

Ithuriel répand son écrin dans les cieux.


Cathédrales de brume aux arches fantastiques ;

Montagnes de vapeurs, colonnades, portiques,

Par la glace de l'eau doublés,

La brise qui s'en joue et déchire leurs franges,

Imprime, en les roulant, mille formes étranges

Aux nuages échevelés.


Comme, pour son bonsoir, d'une plus riche teinte,

Le jour qui fuit revêt la cathédrale sainte,

Ébauchée à grands traits à l'horizon de feu ;

Et les jumelles tours, ces cantiques de pierre,

Semblent les deux grands bras que la ville en prière,

Avant de s'endormir, élève vers son Dieu.


Ainsi que sa patronne, à sa tête gothique,

La vieille église attache une gloire mystique

Faite avec les splendeurs du soir ;

Les roses des vitraux, en rouges étincelles,

S'écaillent brusquement, et comme des prunelles,

S'ouvrent toutes rondes pour voir.


La nef épanouie, entre ses côtes minces,

Semble un crabe géant faisant mouvoir ses pinces,

Une araignée énorme, ainsi que des réseaux,

Jetant au front des tours, au flanc noir des murailles,

En fils aériens, en délicates mailles,

Ses tulles de granit, ses dentelles d'arceaux.


Aux losanges de plomb du vitrail diaphane,

Plus frais que les jardins d'Alcine ou de Morgane,

Sous un chaud baiser de soleil,

Bizarrement peuplés de monstres héraldiques,

Éclosent tout d'un coup cent parterres magiques

Aux fleurs d'azur et de vermeil.


Légendes d'autrefois, merveilleuses histoires

Écrites dans la pierre, enfers et purgatoires,

Dévotement taillés par de naïfs ciseaux ;

Piédestaux du portail, qui pleurent leurs statues,

Par les hommes et non par le temps abattues,

Licornes, loups-garous, chimériques oiseaux,


Dogues hurlant au bout des gouttières ; tarasques,

Guivres et basilics, dragons et nains fantasques,

Chevaliers vainqueurs de géants,

Faisceaux de piliers lourds, gerbes de colonnettes,

Myriades de saints roulés en collerettes,

Autour des trois porches béants.


Lancettes, pendentifs, ogives, trèfles grêles

Où l'arabesque folle accroche ses dentelles

Et son orfèvrerie, ouvrée à grand travail ;

Pignons troués à jour, flèches déchiquetées,

Aiguilles de corbeaux et d'anges surmontées,

La cathédrale luit comme un bijou d'émail !


II


Mais qu'est-ce que cela ? Lorsque l'on a dans l'ombre

Suivi l'escalier svelte aux spirales sans nombre

Et qu'on revoit enfin le bleu,

Le vide par-dessus et par-dessous l'abîme,

Une crainte vous prend, un vertige sublime

A se sentir si près de Dieu !


Ainsi que sous l'oiseau qui s'y perche, une branche

Sous vos pieds qu'elle fuit, la tour frissonne et penche,

Le ciel ivre chancelle et valse autour de vous ;

L'abîme ouvre sa gueule, et l'esprit du vertige,

Vous fouettant de son aile en ricanant voltige

Et fait au front des tours trembler les garde-fous,


Les combles anguleux, avec leurs girouettes,

Découpent, en passant, d'étranges silhouettes

Au fond de votre œil ébloui,

Et dans le gouffre immense où le corbeau tournoie,

Bête apocalyptique, en se tordant aboie,

Paris éclatant, inouï !


Oh ! le cœur vous en bat, dominer de ce faîte,

Soi, chétif et petit, une ville ainsi faite ;

Pouvoir, d'un seul regard, embrasser ce grand tout,

Debout, là-haut, plus près du ciel que de la terre,

Comme l'aigle planant, voir au sein du cratère,

****, bien ****, la fumée et la lave qui bout !


De la rampe, où le vent, par les trèfles arabes,

En se jouant, redit les dernières syllabes

De l'hosanna du séraphin ;

Voir s'agiter là-bas, parmi les brumes vagues,

Cette mer de maisons dont les toits sont les vagues ;

L'entendre murmurer sans fin ;


Que c'est grand ! Que c'est beau ! Les frêles cheminées,

De leurs turbans fumeux en tout temps couronnées,

Sur le ciel de safran tracent leurs profils noirs,

Et la lumière oblique, aux arêtes hardies,

Jetant de tous côtés de riches incendies

Dans la moire du fleuve enchâsse cent miroirs.


Comme en un bal joyeux, un sein de jeune fille,

Aux lueurs des flambeaux s'illumine et scintille

Sous les bijoux et les atours ;

Aux lueurs du couchant, l'eau s'allume, et la Seine

Berce plus de joyaux, certes, que jamais reine

N'en porte à son col les grands jours.


Des aiguilles, des tours, des coupoles, des dômes

Dont les fronts ardoisés luisent comme des heaumes,

Des murs écartelés d'ombre et de clair, des toits

De toutes les couleurs, des résilles de rues,

Des palais étouffés, où, comme des verrues,

S'accrochent des étaux et des bouges étroits !


Ici, là, devant vous, derrière, à droite, à gauche,

Des maisons ! Des maisons ! Le soir vous en ébauche

Cent mille avec un trait de feu !

Sous le même horizon, Tyr, Babylone et Rome,

Prodigieux amas, chaos fait de main d'homme,

Qu'on pourrait croire fait par Dieu !


III


Et cependant, si beau que soit, ô Notre-Dame,

Paris ainsi vêtu de sa robe de flamme,

Il ne l'est seulement que du haut de tes tours.

Quand on est descendu tout se métamorphose,

Tout s'affaisse et s'éteint, plus rien de grandiose,

Plus rien, excepté toi, qu'on admire toujours.


Car les anges du ciel, du reflet de leurs ailes,

Dorent de tes murs noirs les ombres solennelles,

Et le Seigneur habite en toi.

Monde de poésie, en ce monde de prose,

A ta vue, on se sent battre au cœur quelque chose ;

L'on est pieux et plein de foi !


Aux caresses du soir, dont l'or te damasquine,

Quand tu brilles au fond de ta place mesquine,

Comme sous un dais pourpre un immense ostensoir ;

A regarder d'en bas ce sublime spectacle,

On croit qu'entre tes tours, par un soudain miracle,

Dans le triangle saint Dieu se va faire voir.


Comme nos monuments à tournure bourgeoise

Se font petits devant ta majesté gauloise,

Gigantesque sœur de Babel,

Près de toi, tout là-haut, nul dôme, nulle aiguille,

Les faîtes les plus fiers ne vont qu'à ta cheville,

Et, ton vieux chef heurte le ciel.


Qui pourrait préférer, dans son goût pédantesque,

Aux plis graves et droits de ta robe Dantesque,

Ces pauvres ordres grecs qui se meurent de froid,

Ces panthéons bâtards, décalqués dans l'école,

Antique friperie empruntée à Vignole,

Et, dont aucun dehors ne sait se tenir droit.


Ô vous ! Maçons du siècle, architectes athées,

Cervelles, dans un moule uniforme jetées,

Gens de la règle et du compas ;

Bâtissez des boudoirs pour des agents de change,

Et des huttes de plâtre à des hommes de fange ;

Mais des maisons pour Dieu, non pas !


Parmi les palais neufs, les portiques profanes,

Les parthénons coquets, églises courtisanes,

Avec leurs frontons grecs sur leurs piliers latins,

Les maisons sans pudeur de la ville païenne ;

On dirait, à te voir, Notre-Dame chrétienne,

Une matrone chaste au milieu de catins !

now
you toss
dem
raw chicken legs
in da ***
sprinkle some
spicy crack pepper
into her
a pound of
wild brown rice
some
sweet onions
some green peppers
some stiff celery sticks
cause
you just wanna
add some vegetable flavor
to her
now
you mess 'round
and
marinade her
with
some
apple cider vinegar
ok
you stir it up
good now
and
lickety split
alakazam
bada bing bada boom
boy
you got yourself
dis great
big ol' *** of ***** rice
it come
all da way
down da
Mississippi delta
into
da
Louisiana bijou
enjoy your eats
you hear

Sur le chemin de l'autre côté
Quand c'est perdu
Soigneusement gardé dans le coussin
Il cherche ça.
Sur le chemin de la maison, devant le bateau
Sous le fond du four, sous le banc de la pièce, sur les côtés de la maison.
L'adolescence et la jeunesse ont traversé
Maintenant la vieillesse est venue.
Néanmoins, il garda la main dans l'espoir
Un jour, il retrouvera son précieux bijou perdu.