The Watch | My dear André Rouveyre

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by Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire

Translation © by Laura Stanfield Prichard

Veille

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

       Mon cher André Rouveyre
           Troudla la Champignon Tabatière
           On ne sait quand on partira
           Ni quand on reviendra

           Au Mercure de France
           Mars revient tout couleur d’espérance
           J’ai envoyé mon papier
           Sur papier quadrillé

J’entends les pas des grands chevaux d’artillerie allant au trot sur la grand-route où moi je veille
Un grand manteau gris de crayon comme le ciel m’enveloppe jusqu’à l’oreille
                                   Quel
                                   Ciel
                                   Triste
                                   Piste
                                   Où
                                   Va le
                                   Pâle
                                   Sou-
                                   rire
       De la lune qui me regarde écrire

Text Authorship:

by Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire, "Veille", written 1915, appears in Calligrammes - Poèmes de la paix et de la guerre, in 2. Étendards , Paris, Éd. Gallimard, first published 1918 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Robert Caby (1905 - 1992), "Veille", 1946 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2017-02-07
Line count: 20
Word count: 81

The Watch

Language: English after the French (Français)

	My dear André Rouveyre
		Halfwit Mushroom Snuffbox
		We don’t know when we’re leaving
		Or when we’re returning

		At the Mercure de France
		March arrives flushed with hope
		I have sent in my paper
		On graph paper

I hear the clop of the artillery horses’ hooves trotting along the main road where I stand watch
A huge coat crayon-gray like the sky envelops me all the way up to my ears

		My
		Sky
		Sad
		Track
		Whence
		Went the
		Dull
		Smile
Of the moon who checks out my writing style

Translator's notes:
Title: as in the work of a night watchman
Stanza 1, line 2, word 2: could refer to a friend’s offensive pet name for a buddy or a hangout, as in the vulgar French phrase “trou du cul/trouduc” [anus] or “trou du cul du monde” [middle of nowhere]; could refer to whistling/humming to pass the time as in “troulala”.
Stanza 2, line 1: a French literary journal that published early works by Apollonaire.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Laura Stanfield Prichard, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire, "Veille", written 1915, appears in Calligrammes - Poèmes de la paix et de la guerre, in 2. Étendards , Paris, Éd. Gallimard, first published 1918
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-05-06
Line count: 19
Word count: 89