The Absence

Paul Eluard 1895 (Saint-Denis) – 1952 (Charenton-le-Pont)



I speak to you across cities
I speak to you across plains

My mouth is upon your pillow

Both faces of the walls come meeting
My voice discovering you

I speak to you of eternity

O cities memories of cities
Cities wrapped in our desires
Cities come early cities come lately
Cities strong and cities secret
Plundered of their master's builders
All their thinkers all their ghosts

Fields pattern of emerald
Bright living surviving
The harvest of the sky over our earth
Feeds my voice I dream and weep
I laugh and dream among the flames
Among the clusters of the sun

And over my body your body spreads
The sheet of it's bright mirror.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
131

Quick analysis:

Scheme AX X BX C ADCXDX XBXXXX XX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 623
Words 117
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 2, 1, 2, 1, 6, 6, 2

Paul Eluard

Paul Éluard, born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel, was a French poet who was one of the founders of the surrealist movement. more…

All Paul Eluard poems | Paul Eluard Books

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