poems by paul eluard

8/14/2019 poems by paul eluard

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Copyright 2004 A. S. Kline, All Rights Reserved

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Absence ..............................................................................4Easy ....................................................................................5Talking of Power and Love.................................................6The Beloved........................................................................7Max Ernst ...........................................................................8Series ..................................................................................9Obsession..........................................................................10

Nearer To Us.....................................................................11Open Door ........................................................................12The Immediate Life ..........................................................13Lovely And Lifelike..........................................................14The Season of Loves.........................................................15As Far As My Eye Can See In My Bodys Senses ...........16Barely Disfigured..............................................................17In A New Night ................................................................18Fertile Eyes.......................................................................19I Said It To You ................................................................20Its The Sweet Law Of Men..............................................21The Curve Of Your Eyes ..................................................22Liberty ..............................................................................23Ring Of Peace...................................................................27

Ecstasy ..............................................................................28Our Life ............................................................................29Uninterrupted Poetry.........................................................30Index of First Lines...........................................................32


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Easy and beautiful under

your eyelidsAs the meeting of pleasureDance and the rest

I spoke the fever

The best reason for fireThat you might be pale and luminousA thousand fruitful posesA thousand ravaged embracesRepeated move to erase themselvesYou grow dark you unveil yourself A mask youcontrol it

It deeply resembles youAnd you seem nothing but lovelier naked

Naked in shadow and dazzlingly nakedLike a sky shivering with flashes of lightningYou reveal yourself to youTo reveal yourself to others


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Between all my torments between death and self

Between my despair and the reason for livingThere is injustice and this evil of menThat I cannot accept there is my anger

There are the blood-coloured fighters of SpainThere are the sky-coloured fighters of GreeceThe bread the blood the sky and the right to hopeFor all the innocents who hate evil

The light is always close to dyingLife always ready to become earthBut spring is reborn that is never done withA bud lifts from dark and the warmth settles

And the warmth will have the right of the selfish

Their atrophied senses will not resistI hear the fire talk lightly of coolnessI hear a man speak what he has not known

You who were my fleshs sensitive conscienceYou I love forever you who made meYou will not tolerate oppression or injuryYoull sing in dream of earthly happinessYoull dream of freedom and Ill continue you


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She is standing on my eyelidsAnd her hair is wound in mine,She has the form of my hands,She has the colour of my eyes,She is swallowed by my shadowLike a stone against the sky.

Her eyes are always openAnd will not let me sleep.Her dreams in broad daylightMake the suns evaporateMake me laugh, cry and laugh,Speak with nothing to say.


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In one corner agile incest

Turns round the virginity of a little dressIn one corner sky releasedleaves balls of white on the spines of storm.

In one corner bright with all the eyesOne awaits the fish of anguish.In one corner the car of summers greenerygloriously motionless forever.

In the glow of youthlamps lit too late.The first one shows her breasts that kill theinsects that are red.


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For the splendour of the day of happinesses in the

air To live the taste of colours easilyTo enjoy loves so as to laughTo open eyes at the final moment

She has every willingness.


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After years of wisdomDuring which the world was transparent as aneedleWas it cooing about something else?After having vied with returned favourssquandered treasureMore than a red lip with a red tipAnd more than a white leg with a white footWhere then do we think we are?


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Run and run towards deliverance

And find and gather everythingDeliverance and richesRun so quickly the thread breaksWith the sound a great bird makesA flag always soared beyond


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Life is truly kind

Come to me, if I go to you its a game,The angels of bouquets grant the flowers achange of hue.


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Whats become of you why this white hair and

pink Why this forehead these eyes rent apart heart-rendingThe great misunderstanding of the marriage ofradiumSolitude chases me with its rancour.


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A face at the end of the day

A cradle in days dead leavesA bouquet of naked rainEvery ray of sun hiddenEvery fount of founts in the depths of the water Every mirror of mirrors brokenA face in the scales of silenceA pebble among other pebblesFor the leaves last glimmers of dayA face like all the forgotten faces.


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By the road of ways

In the three-part shadow of troubled sleepI come to you the double the multipleas like you as the era of deltas.

Your head is as tiny as mineThe nearby sea reigns with springOver the summers of your fragile formAnd here one burns bundles of ermine.

In the wandering transparencyof your noble facethese floating animals are wonderfulI envy their candour their inexperienceYour inexperience on the bed of watersFinds the road of love without bowing

By the road of waysand without the talisman that revealsyour laughter at the crowd of womenand your tears no one wants.


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All the trees all their branches all of their leavesThe grass at the foot of the rocks and the housesen masseFar off the sea that your eye bathesThese images of day after dayThe vices the virtues so imperfectThe transparency of men passing among them bychanceAnd passing women breathed by your elegantobstinaciesYour obsessions in a heart of lead on virgin lipsThe vices the virtues so imperfectThe likeness of looks of permission with eyesyou conquer The confusion of bodies wearinesses ardours

The imitation of words attitudes ideasThe vices the virtues so imperfect

Love is man incomplete


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Adieu Tristesse

Bonjour TristesseFarewell SadnessHello SadnessYou are inscribed in the lines on the ceilingYou are inscribed in the eyes that I loveYou are not poverty absolutelySince the poorest of lips denounce youAh with a smileBonjour TristesseLove of kind bodiesPower of loveFrom which kindness risesLike a bodiless monster Unattached headSadness beautiful face.


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Woman Ive lived with

Woman I live withWoman Ill live withAlways the sameYou need a red cloak Red gloves a red mask And dark stockingsThe reasons the proofsOf seeing you quite naked

Nudity pure O ready finery

Breasts O my heart


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Fertile Eyes

No one can know me moreMore than you know me

Your eyes in which we sleepThe two of themHave cast a spell on my male orbsGreater than worldly nights

Your eyes where I voyageHave given the road-signsDirections detached from the earth

In your eyes those that show usOur infinite solitudeIs no more than they think exists

No one can know me moreMore than you know me.


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I said it to you for the clouds

I said it to you for the tree of the seaFor each wave for the birds in the leavesFor the pebbles of soundFor familiar handsFor the eye that becomes landscape or faceAnd sleep returns it the heaven of its colour For all that night drank For the network of roadsFor the open window for a bare foreheadI said it to you for your thoughts for your wordsEvery caress every trust survives.


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Its the sweet law of men

They make wine from grapesThey make fire from coalThey make men from kisses

Its the true law of menKept intact despitethe misery and war despite danger of death

Its the warm law of menTo change water to lightDream to realityEnemies to friends

A law old and new

That perfects itself From the childs hearts depthsTo reasons heights.


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The curve of your eyes embraces my heart

A ring of sweetness and dancehalo of time, sure nocturnal cradle,And if I no longer know all I have lived throughIts that your eyes have not always been mine.

Leaves of day and moss of dew,Reeds of breeze, smiles perfumed,Wings covering the world of light,Boats charged with sky and sea,Hunters of sound and sources of colour

Perfume enclosed by a covey of dawnsthat beds forever on the straw of stars,As the day depends on innocenceThe whole world depends on your pure eyes

And all my blood flows under their sight.


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On my notebooks from schoolOn my desk and the treesOn the sand on the snowI write your name

On every page readOn all the white sheetsStone blood paper or ashI write your name

On the golden imagesOn the soldiers weaponsOn the crowns of kingsI write your name

On the jungle the desertThe nests and the bushesOn the echo of childhoodI write your name

On the wonder of nightsOn the white bread of daysOn the seasons engagedI write your name


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On all my blue ragsOn the pond mildewed sun

On the lake living moonI write your name

On the fields the horizonThe wings of the birdsOn the windmill of shadowsI write your name

On the foam of the cloudsOn the sweat of the stormOn dark insipid rainI write your name

On the glittering formsOn the bells of colour

On physical truthI write your name

On the wakened pathsOn the opened waysOn the scattered placesI write your name

On the lamp that gives lightOn the lamp that is drownedOn my house reunitedI write your name


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On the bisected fruitOf my mirror and roomOn my beds empty shell

I write your name

On my dog greedy tender On his listening earsOn his awkward pawsI write your name

On the sill of my door On familiar thingsOn the fires sacred streamI write your name

On all flesh thats in tuneOn the brows of my friendsOn each hand that extends

I write your name

On the glass of surprisesOn lips that attendHigh over the silenceI write your name

On my ravaged refugesOn my fallen lighthousesOn the walls of my boredomI write your name


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On passionless absenceOn naked solitudeOn the marches of death

I write your name

On health thats regainedOn danger thats pastOn hope without memoriesI write your name

By the power of the wordI regain my lifeI was born to know youAnd to name you

LIBERTY


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I have passed the doors of coldness

The doors of my bitternessTo come and kiss your lips

City reduced to a roomWhere the absurd tide of evilleaves a reassuring foam

Ring of peace I have only youYou teach me again what it isTo be human when I renounce

Knowing whether I have fellow creatures


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I am in front of this feminine landLike a child in front of the fireSmiling vaguely with tears in my eyesIn front of this land where all moves in meWhere mirrors mist where mirrors clear Reflecting two nude bodies season on season

Ive so many reasons to lose myself On this road-less earth under horizon-less skiesGood reasons I ignored yesterdayAnd Ill never ever forgetGood keys of gazes keys their own daughtersin front of this land where nature is mine

In front of the fire the first fire

Good mistress reasonIdentified star On earth under sky in and out of my heartSecond bud first green leaf That the sea covers with sailsAnd the sun finally coming to us

I am in front of this feminine landLike a branch in the fire.


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Well not reach the goal one by one but in pairs

We know in pairs we will know all about usWell love everything our children will smileAt the dark history or mourn alone


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From the sea to the source

From mountain to plainRuns the phantom of lifeThe foul shadow of deathBut between usA dawn of ardent flesh is bornAnd exact goodthat sets the earth in order We advance with calm stepAnd nature salutes usThe day embodies our coloursFire our eyes the sea our unionAnd all living resemble usAll the living we loveImaginary the othersWrong and defined by their birth

But we must struggle against themThey live by dagger blowsThey speak like a broken chair Their lips tremble with joyAt the echo of leaden bellsAt the muteness of dark goldA lone heart not a heartA lone heart all the heartsAnd the bodies every star In a sky filled with starsIn a career in movementOf light and of glancesOur weight shines on the earth


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Glaze of desireTo sing of human shoresFor you the living I love

And for all those that we loveThat have no desire but to loveIll end truly by barring the roadAfloat with enforced dreamsIll end truly by finding myself Well take possession of earth


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I speak to you over cities ....................................................4

Easy and beautiful under.....................................................5Between all my torments between death and self ...............6She is standing on my eyelids.............................................7In one corner agile incest....................................................8For the splendour of the day of happinesses in the air ........9After years of wisdom.......................................................10Run and run towards deliverance......................................11Life is truly kind ...............................................................12Whats become of you why this white hair and pink........13A face at the end of the day ..............................................14By the road of ways ..........................................................15All the trees all their branches all of their leaves ..............16Adieu Tristesse .................................................................17Woman Ive lived with .....................................................18Fertile Eyes.......................................................................19

I said it to you for the clouds ............................................20Its the sweet law of men ..................................................21The curve of your eyes embraces my heart.......................22On my notebooks from school..........................................23I have passed the doors of coldness ..................................27I am in front of this feminine land ....................................28Well not reach the goal one by one but in pairs...............29From the sea to the source ................................................30

poems by paul eluard

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