Untitled (from Trois seconds où la Seine n’a pas coulé)


Il existe dans le monde

Trois secondes

Où la Seine n’a pas coulé

Un garçon tout long

Une fille toute brune

Ont choisi ces trois secondes

Pour plonger dedans

Du pont Marie ils se sont jetés

Pendant une éternité

Ils ont cherché l’entrée

Mais la Seine était fermée

C’est la vérité

 

 

There exists in world history

Three seconds

When the Seine stopped flowing

A very tall boy

A very brown girl

Chose these three seconds

To dive in

They threw themselves off the Marie Bridge

For an eternity

They sought its mouth

But the Seine had shut tight

Swear to God

Translated by Norman Cornett



This poem “Untitled (from Trois seconds où la Seine n’a pas coulé)” originally appeared in Radio, Film, and Fiction. Spec. issue of Canadian Literature 225 (Summer 2015): 28.

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