Guillaume Apollinaire

I have to take "comps" in early April to be able to graduate from my masters program. The task is quite daunting...I am pretty much responsible for about 30 different works of French literature (novels, mostly) from 3 different centuries. I have 2 written exams, about 6 hours each, on two different days, and an oral exam, in which I will be talking about the 25 page paper I will have written. Anyway, so I have been trying to go one day at a time and it's almost like studying for a test every night, but it hasn't been too bad. I have already read about half the books from previous classes.

Yesterday I was studying/reading a bit of the surréaliste poets from the early 1900s: Apollinaire, Bréton, etc. I read a poem I read about 3 years ago by Apollinaire, and I like it, so I thought I'd share it, probably very roughly translated, in English. He was actually the one to coin the word "surrealism," although this is one of his more traditional, lyrical poems:

Le Pont Mirabeau
(The Mirabeau Bridge)

underneath the Mirabeau Bridge flows the Seine

and our loves
must I remember this
joy always comes after pain

come night sound the hour
the days go by I remain

hand in hand remain face to face
while underneath
the bridge our arms cross
the waters so weary endless regards

come night sound the hour
the days go by I remain

love goes away like this water flows
love goes away
how life is slow
and how hope is violent

come night sound the hour
the days go by I remain

pass by days and pass by weeks
neither time past
nor love returns
underneath the Mirabeau Bridge flows the Seine

come night sound the hour
the days go by I remain

--Guillaume Apollinaire