Three Poems by Henri Meschonnic

translated by Don Boes and Gabriella Bedetti

the one who has eyes
is the one who sees tomorrow

the one who’s waiting
is the one who succeeds

which hand is strong
not the one holding the present
but the empty hand
that shows the future

and who speaks
not the master of words
but the one who transforms the silence
with words
and who transforms the words
with silence

qui a des yeux
c’est celui qui voit demain

qui attend
c’est celui qui accomplit

quelle main est forte
pas celle qui tient le présent

mais la main vide
qui montre l’avenir

et qui parle
pas le maître des mots

mais celui qui transforme le silence
avec ses mots

et qui transforme les mots
par son silence

from Jamais et un jour (Never and a Day), Dominique Bedou, 1986

if outside is outside
or inside
I no longer know
I meet
others
or perhaps myself
the part of us in other people
the unknown that we hide
and whose faces
are the face
the one
I am looking for or who is looking for me

si le dehors est dehors
ou dedans
je ne sais plus
je me rencontre
d’autres
ou peut-être moi-même
la part de nous dans les autres
l’inconnu que nous cachons
et dont les visages des autres
sont le visage
celui
que je cherche ou qui me cherche

from Tout entier visage (Whole Face), Arfuyen, 2005

I sleep through my waking
I browse
our nights
they are my books
I enter them with you
there is neither inside
nor outside
in our world of time

je dors ma veille
je feuillette
nos sommeils
ce sont mes livres
j’y entre avec toi
il n’y a plus ni dedans
ni dehors
dans notre temps monde

from La vie je cours (Life I Run), Tipaza, 2008

Henri Meschonnic (1932–2009) is a key figure of French “new poetics,” best known worldwide for his translations from the Old Testament and the 710-page Critique du rythme. During his long career, Meschonnic generated controversy in the literary community. His poems appear in more than a dozen languages; however, almost none of Meschonnic’s poems have been translated into English. His poetry has received prestigious awards, including the Max Jacob International Poetry Prize, the Mallarmé Prize, the Jean Arp Francophone Literature Prize, and the Guillevic-Ville de Saint-Malo Grand Prize for Poetry.

Don Boes is the author of Good Luck With That, Railroad Crossing, and The Eighth Continent, selected by A. R. Ammons for the Samuel French Morse Poetry Prize. His poems have appeared in The Louisville Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Prairie Schooner, CutBank, Zone 3, Southern Indiana Review, and The Cincinnati Review.

Gabriella Bedetti studied translation at the University of Iowa and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Her translations of Meschonnic’s essays and other writings have appeared in New Literary History, Critical Inquiry, and Diacritics. Meschonnic was a guest of the MLA at her roundtable with Ralph Cohen and Susan Stewart.