Vowels
english translation
Vowels
“Voyelles”
A is black. E, white. I, red. U
is green, O is blue.
One day, O Vowels, I will tell,
not just these details,
but the full, hidden story
of your birth. For now: A is a furry
corset, black, covered in flies that buzz,
glittering, around a vicious stench. A is
also: shadows spreading across
spreading gulfs. E is ingenuousness
of rising vapors; also white tents,
glaciers proud of their icy lances, and upbent,
umbel’d flowers quivering—also the whiteness
of kingship. I is the various
purple-reds: spit-up blood, a mouth
laughing beautifully in rage or bouts
of remorseful drunkenness. U
is the cycles: holy vibrationals moving through
bright-green seas; peaceful fields sprinkled
thickly with animals; peaceful wrinkles
an alchemy imprints
onto dignified, studious faces. But: intense
Trumpet, the supreme
Clarion blasting weird stridencies—extreme
Silences also, intersecting
the Worlds and inter-connecting
the Angels—O is Omega, the sky-blue, a rod,
a straight ray from the eyes of God!
original French poem
Voyelles
A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu: voyelles,
Je dirai quelque jour vos naissances latentes:
A, noir corset velue des mouches éclatantes
Qui bombinent autour des puanteurs cruelles,
Golfes d’ombre; E, candeurs des vapeurs et des tentes,
Lances des glaciers fiers, rois blancs, frissons d’ombelles;
I, pourpres, sang craché, rire des lèvres belles
Dans la colère ou les ivresses pénitentes;
U, cycles, vibrements divins des mers virides,
Paix des pâtis semés d’animaux, paix des rides
Que l’alchimie imprime aux grands fronts studieux;
O suprême Clairon plein des strideurs étranges,
Silences traversés des Mondes et des Anges:
—O l’Oméga, rayon violet de Ses Yeux!
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