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by Aléxis Saint Léger-Léger (1887 - 1975), as Saint-John Perse

Le perroquet
Language: French (Français) 
C'est un autre. 

Un marin rugueux l'avait porté 
à la bonne femme qui l'a donné. 
Il est sur le palier près de la lucarne,
là où s'emmêle 
au noir la brume sale du jour couleur de venelles. 

D'un double cri, la nuit, il te salue, Crusoé,
quand, remontant de la cour, tu pousses la porte du couloir 
et élèves devant toi le bec de ta lampe.
Il tourne sa tête pour tourner son regard. 
Et toi, tu regardes l'oeil rond 
sous le pollen des paupières grenues;
tu regardes le deuxième cercle comme un anneau:
il est jaune du jus des mangues,
du jaune des graines fleuries de cocotiers. 

-- Ses plumes malades trempent dans l'eau de fiente.

Text Authorship:

  • by Aléxis Saint Léger-Léger (1887 - 1975), as Saint-John Perse [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Louis Durey (1888 - 1979), "Le perroquet", op. 11 no. 6 (1918), published 1922 [ medium voice and piano or instrumental ensemble ], from Images à Crusoé, no. 6, Chester [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 116

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