Reverdy: Slates

.

Sur chaque ardoise

...................qui glissait du toit
................................on
.........................avait écrit
....................................un poème

La gouttière est bordée de diamants
.............................. les oiseaux les boivent

On each slate
..............that slipped from the roof
....................someone
..................had written
..............................a poem




The gutter's lined with diamonds
.......................the birds sip them

Pierre Reverdy: "Sur chaque ardoise..." from Les Ardoises du Toit (1918), trans. TC

A piece of slate: photo by Jon Zander, 2007
Slate roof, Tannery, St. Fagans (Wales National Museum, Cardiff): photo by Zureks, 2007
Windows: Egon Schiele, 1914 (Österreichische Galerie, Wien)