Ocean of Earth by Guillaume Apollinaire

"The airplanes are laying eggs."

Ocean of Earth
by Guillaume Apollinaire
translated by Ron Padgett

      To G. de Chirico

I have built a house in the middle of the Ocean
Its windows are the rivers flowing from my eyes
Octopi are crawling all over where the walls are
Hear their triple hearts beat and their beaks peck against the windowpanes

                        House of dampness
                        House of burning
                        Season’s fastness
                        Season singing
                  The airplanes are laying eggs
                  Watch out for the dropping of the anchor

Watch out for the shooting black ichor
It would be good if you were to come from the sky
The sky’s honeysuckle is climbing
The earthly octopi are throbbing
And so very many of us have become our own gravediggers
Pale octopi of the chalky waves O octopi with pale beaks
Around the house is this ocean that you know well
         And is never still

First published in Poetry (October 2015). Translated by Ron Padgett.