G UILLAUME A POLLINAIRE

Oneirocriticism

The coals of the sky were so near that I was afraid of their heat. They were on the point of burning me. But I was conscious of the different eternities of man and woman. Two animals of different species were coupling, and rose-vines covered the trellises which moons weighed down with grapes. From the monkeys throat came ames which made the world blossom like a lily. In the myrtle an ermine was turning white. We asked it the reason for the unnatural winter. I gulped down the tawny herds. Orkenise appeared on the horizon. We went toward that city, regretting to leave the valleys where the apple trees used to sing and whistle and roar. But the song of the cultivated elds was marvellous: By the gates of Orkenise A ploughman wishes to come in. By the gates of Orkenise A vagabond wishes to go out. The city sentries straightaway Fall upon the vagabond: What are you taking out with you? I left all of my heart behind. The city sentries straightaway Halt the ploughman in his tracks: What are you bringing in with you? My heart, for I shall marry here. How many hearts in Orkenise! The sentries laughed and laughed. O vagabond, the road is dull, And ploughman, love is just as sad. The worthy sentries of the town Knitted on complacently; The heavy gates of Orkenise Then began closing gradually.

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But I was conscious of the different eternities of man and woman. The sky suckled its young panthers. Then I noticed crimson spots on my hand. Toward morning some pirates carried off nine ships that were at anchor in the harbor. The kings were becoming cheerful. The women, as well, did not want to mourn anyones death. They prefer old kings, stronger in their love than old dogs. A man making a sacrice wished to be immolated himself in place of the victim. They cut his belly open. I saw there four Is, four Os, and four Ds. We were served fresh meat, and I suddenly grew larger after having eaten it. Monkeys as big as their own trees violated ancient tombs. I called one of these beasts on which laurel leaves were growing. It brought me a head made out of a single pearl. I took it in my hands and questioned it after having threatened to throw it in the sea if it did not answer me. This pearl was ignorant and the sea swallowed it up. But I was conscious of the different eternities of man and woman. Two animals of different species were making love to each other. However only the kings were not dying of laughter, and twenty blind tailors came to cut and sew a veil destined to cover the sardonyx. I directed them myself, backwards. Toward evening, the trees took ight, and monkeys became motionless, and I saw myself a hundred strong. This band which was I sat down beside the sea. Great ships of gold crossed the horizon. And when night had fallen, a hundred ames came to meet me. I procreated a hundred male children whose nurses were the moon and the hillside. They loved the abby kings who were kept moving about on balconies. When I had come to the bank of a river, I took it in both hands and brandished it about. This sword refreshed me. The languid spring warned me that if I stopped the sun, I should see it as actually square. A hundred strong, I swam toward an archipelago. A hundred sailors received me and, having taken me to a palace, they killed me ninety-nine times. I burst out laughing at that moment and danced, whereas they were weeping. I danced on all fours. But the others no longer dared to move, for I had the frightening appearance of a lion. On all fours, on all fours. My arms and my legs were alike, and my eyes which had multiplied crowned me attentively. Then I rose up to dance like hands and like leaves. I was gloved. The islanders took me to their orchards so that I might pick fruit like women. And the island, adrift, lled up a gulf where immediately red trees sprang up. A soft beast covered with white plumes was singing ineffably, and a whole population admired him without tiring. I found on the ground the head made out of a single pearl, which was crying. I brandished the river and the crowd dispersed. Some old men were eating smallage, and being immortal did not suffer more than the dead. I felt free, as free as a ower in its

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Guillaume Apollinaire

season. The sun was no freer than a ripe fruit. A ock of trees browsed among the invisible stars and the dawn gave its hand to the storm. In the myrtle one came under the inuence of darkness. A whole people, heaped into a press, were bleeding and singing. Men were born from the liquid which owed from the press. They brandished other rivers, which struck one another with a ringing sound. The shadows came out of the myrtle and went off to the gardens which a shoot watered with the eyes of men and animals. The handsomest of all the men seized me by the throat, but I succeeded in throwing him down. On his knees, he showed me his teeth. I touched them. Sounds came from them which changed into serpents the color of chestnuts, and their tongue was called Saint Fabeau. They dug up a transparent root and ate some of it. It was the size of a turnip. And my quiet river covered them without drowning them. The sky was full of feces and onions. I cursed the unworthy stars whose light owed out over the earth. No living creature appeared any more. But songs arose on every side. I visited empty cities and abandoned cottages. I gathered up crowns of all the kings and made of them the immobile minister of the loquacious world. Ships of gold, unmanned, crossed the horizon. Gigantic shadows passed across the distant sails. Several centuries separated me from these shadows. I despaired. But I was conscious of the different eternities of men and women. Shadows of different kinds darkened with their love the scarlet of the sails, while my eyes multiplied in rivers, in cities, and on mountain snows.

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