.
Sur chaque ardoise
...................qui glissait du toit
................................ on
.........................avait écrit
.................................... un poème
..............................
.........................avait écrit
..............................
La gouttière est bordée de diamants
.............................. les oiseaux les boivent
On each slate
..............that slipped from the roof
....................someone
..................had written
..............................a poem
The gutter's lined with diamonds
.......................the birds sip them
..............that slipped from the roof
....................someone
..................had written
..............................
The gutter's lined with diamonds
.......................the birds sip them
Pierre Reverdy: "Sur chaque ardoise..." from Les Ardoises du Toit (1918), trans. TC
A piece of slate: photo by Jon Zander, 2007
Slate roof, Tannery, St. Fagans (Wales National Museum, Cardiff): photo by Zureks, 2007
Windows: Egon Schiele, 1914 (Österreichische Galerie, Wien)