May this day be dedicated to happiness! I have ridden
Horses to the tunes of a distant opera.
This carousel and the sky turn like the voice
Of children laughing to be there standing together.
Let’s leave the city to its stony stiffness
Its bulbs its ceilings its rivers with bridges
Let’s climb the roofs as far as the lightning-rods
As far as the naked sun you can touch with your finger.
Let’s say farewell to crosses and alleluias
Let’s smother the warrior sirens with kisses
To celebrate this Sunday let’s buy ourselves a bouquet
Of a thousand flowers like songs of the bells at noon.
[-Pierre Martory, trans John Ashbery.]
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| [Carousel, Troyes.] |
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