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Read more poems by James A. Emanuel: James A. Emanuel Poems at Poetry X.

To every man
His treehouse,
A green splice in the humping years,
Spartan with narrow cot
And prickly door.

To every man
His twilight flash
Of luminous recall
            of tiptoe years
            in leaf-stung flight;
            of days of squirm and bite
            that waved antennas through the grass;
            of nights
            when every moving thing
            was girlshaped,
            expectantly turning.

To every man
His house below
And his house above—
With perilous stairs
Between.

La maison de Robinson

À chaque Robinson
Sa maison suspendue,
Verte clef dans la voûte des ans,
Spartiate, où l'on dort à l'étroit,
Dont la porte égratigne.

Et à chacun son
Éclair dans le noir,
Rappel en lumière
            des années furtives
            à fuir l'essaim des feuillages ;
            des jours qui grouillaient et pinçaient
            antennes souples pointées dans les herbes ;
            des nuits
            où tout ce qui bougeait
            avait forme de fille
             qui se retournait pour attendre.

À chacun sa maison
À l'étage au-dessous
Et sa maison de Robinson.
Mais nul n'y grimpe
Sans péril.


Translation by Jean Migrenne

Added: 9 Jun 2002 | Last Read: 9 Sep 2026 8:16 PM | Viewed: 5020 times

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