Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Claude Esteban

WE ARE SMALL

We are small, so small you would say, that death
will forget about us

how well you spoke on the heath, I finished
by believing you, the fool

I imagined death like a mother
who welcomes us

and who wants us to go to sleep at last,
but you were only the fool

you muddled the signs mervellously,
as for myself

I was on the edge of the void, I waited.

On est petits

On est petits

On est petits, disais-tu, si petits que la mort
va nous oublier

comme tu parlais bien sur la lande, je finissais
par te croire, le fou

j’imaginais la mort comme une mère
qui nous accueille

et qui veut qu’on s’endorme enfin, mais
tu n’étais que le fou

tu confondais merveilleusement
les signes, moi

j’étais sur le bord du vide,
j’attendais.
Close

WE ARE SMALL

We are small, so small you would say, that death
will forget about us

how well you spoke on the heath, I finished
by believing you, the fool

I imagined death like a mother
who welcomes us

and who wants us to go to sleep at last,
but you were only the fool

you muddled the signs mervellously,
as for myself

I was on the edge of the void, I waited.

WE ARE SMALL

We are small, so small you would say, that death
will forget about us

how well you spoke on the heath, I finished
by believing you, the fool

I imagined death like a mother
who welcomes us

and who wants us to go to sleep at last,
but you were only the fool

you muddled the signs mervellously,
as for myself

I was on the edge of the void, I waited.
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Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
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