Mirabeau Bridge

Under Mirabeau Bridge the river slips away

        And lovers

           Must I be reminded

       Joy came always after pain

The night is a clock chiming

The days go by not I

We're face to face and hand in hand

While under the bridges

Of embrace expire

Eternal tired tidal eyes

The night is a clock chiming

The days go by not I

Love elapses like the river

Love goes by

Poor life is indolent

And expectation always violent

The night is a clock chiming

The days go by not I

The days and equally the weeks elapse

The past remains the past

Love remains lost

Under Mirabeau Bridge the river slips away

The night is a clock chiming

The days go by not I

Guillaume Apollinaire. "Mirabeau Bridge" from Alcools, English translation, 1995 Donald Revell and reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.