Ode to Bordeaux

I wander in the cemetery where only memories remain

This city full of history without any future

Cathédrale St. André, o you my ebony woman

You are adorned with blonde tresses

Either your spires caress the firmament

Or they hurt the sky who cries bloody rain

O you who watch over this maritime city

Look at me here on the rue Ste. Cathérine

On the central vein where I walk in tears

To la Victoire where my deceiving heart

Inebriates me with the night, love and alcohol

Let me explode like a horn in B flat

However I spur myself on

To see the Garonne

Because the train station leads me into darkness

And I go there despite my fear

The train station is on her way to ruin

This lady, this ghost, this iron pathway

There, crying, my head in my hands

Surrounded by souvenirs dead by tomorrow

This foreigner who lived abroad said to himself

“In my homeland I shall be as an exile.”

His tears shed and this pitiable cry

Darken this night already full of devils

Thus did he say his adieu to the port of the moon

Without returning home, a wretched fortune!

Ma petite zone du sud

(grâce à Apollinaire)