Guillaume Apollinaire
Flashes
The watch is beside the candle that burns quietly behind a
screen made from the tin-plate of a jam tin
In your left hand you hold a stop watch which you will start
at the right moment
With your right you are ready to centre the alidad of the sights
triangle on the far-off flashes
You aim as you start the stopwatch and you stop the stopwatch
when you hear the explosion
You note the time the number of reports the calibre the deflection the
number of seconds elapsed between the flash and the detonation
You watch without turning away you watch through the gun-port
The rockets dance the bombs explode and the flashes flash
While all around can be heard the simple and crude symphony
of the war
So my love in life we bring our heart and our attentive piety to bear
On the unknown and hostile flashes that adorn the horizon
and people it and control us
And the poet observes this life and discovers the countless flashes of
the mysteries that must be located
And known O Flashes O my dearest love
Translated by Robert Chandler
Page(s) 145
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