Mai

Guillaume Apollinaire 1880 (Rome) – 1918 (Paris)



Le mai le joli mai en barque sur le Rhin
    Des dames regardaient du haut de la montagne
    Vous êtes si jolies mais la barque s'éloigne
    Qui donc a fait pleurer les saules riverains

    Or des vergers fleuris se figeaient en arrière
    Les pétales tombés des cerisiers de mai
    Sont les ongles de celle que j'ai tant aimée
    Les pétales flétris sont comme ses paupières

    Sur le chemin du bord du fleuve lentement
    Un ours un singe un chien menés par des tziganes
    Suivaient une roulotte traînée par un âne
    Tandis que s'éloignait dans les vignes rhénanes
    Sur un fifre lointain un air de régiment

    Le mai le joli mai a paré les ruines
    De lierre de vigne vierge et de rosiers
    Le vent du Rhin secoue sur le bord les osiers
    Et les roseaux jaseurs et les fleurs nues des vignes

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 04, 2023

44 sec read
610

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXAB XXCB DBCBD BBBB
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 823
Words 144
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 5, 4

Guillaume Apollinaire

Guillaume Apollinaire was an Italian-born French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic born in Rome, in Italy, to a Polish mother. more…

All Guillaume Apollinaire poems | Guillaume Apollinaire Books

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    "Mai" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/16234/mai>.

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