by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
Translation © by Peter Low

Entoure ce citron de blanc d'oeuf...
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG GER LIT
Entoure ce citron de blanc d'oeuf informe
Enrobe ce blanc d'oeuf d'un azur souple et fin
La ligne droite et noire a beau venir de toi
L'aube est derrière ton tableau

Et des murs innombrables croulent
Derrière ton tableau et toi l'oeil fixe
Comme un aveugle comme un fou
Tu dresses une haute épée dans le vide

Une main pourquoi pas une seconde main
Et pourquoi pas la bouche nue comme une plume
Pourquoi pas un sourire et pouquoi pas des larmes
Tout au bord de la toile où jouent les petits clous

Voici le jour d'autrui laisse aux ombres leur chance
Et d'un seul mouvement des paupières renonce

About the headline (FAQ)

First appeared in the revue Labyrinthe, June 15, 1945, and then in Poésie ininterrompue, Paris, Éd. Gallimard, 1946.


Text Authorship:

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

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • ENG English (Peter Low) , "Pablo Picasso", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Julia Henning) , "Pablo Picasso", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Pablas Pikasas", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 109

Pablo Picasso
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
 Surround this lemon with shapeless eggwhite!
 Coat this eggwhite with a supple, delicate blue!
 Even though the straight black line comes from you,
 the dawn is there behind your painting.
 
 And countless walls are crumbling
 behind your painting, and you (with the fixed stare
 of a blind man or a lunatic)
 are raising a tall sword in the empty space.
 
 A hand, why not another hand?
 And why not the mouth as naked as a feather?
 Why not a smile, and why not teardrops
 at the edge of the canvas where the tacks are playing?
 
 This is other people's daylight. Let the shadows have their chance!
 With one blink of your eyelids, leave it at that!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (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: 

Based on:

 

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 117