Lawrence Ferlinghetti/Jacques Prévert

On the of the many pleasures Lawrence Ferlinghetti has left us are his translations of the poems of Jacques Prévert:

Birds, at Random

I learned very late to love birds

I regret it a little

but now it’s all arranged

we understand each other

they don’t occupy themselves with me

I don’t occupy myself with them

I look at them

I leave them alone

all the birds do their best

they set an example

not the example as for example Mister Glacis

who remarkably courageously conducted himself

during the war of the example of little Paul

who was poof and so handsome and so very honet

and who later became the great Paul so rich

so old so honorable and so repulsive and so

avaricious and so charitable and so pious

or for example that old servant who had an

exemplary life and death never any arguments

not that with her nail tapping a tooth not that

no arguments with Mr. or Mrs. on the subject of that

frightful question of salaries

birds set an example

a proper example

the example of birds

the example of the feathers the wings the flight of birds

the example of the nests the voyages and the songs of birds

the example of the beauty of birds

the example of the heart of birds

the light of birds

Paroles: Selected Poems of Jacques Prévert, translated by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 84-87

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