Monday, 19 September 2016

Samuel Beckett: La Mouche (The Fly)


between the scene and me 
the glass 
empty except for it 

belly down
tied tight in its black guts
panicked antennas linked wings
hooked legs mouth emptily sucking
slicing the azure crashing against the invisible
under my powerless thumb it capsizes
the sea and the serene sky


Tr. Philip Nikolayev (original in French). Written in the late 1930s. If Beckett was going to do an animal poem it probably wouldn't be about the beauties of the nightingale's song.

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