LIFE, FEELINGS, AND EMOTIONS

Library

A Poem in Two Languages – French and English

ma cherie, Je tienne ta cote, mais ton livre, fermé. Your pages, contain more wealth than Alexandria’s. Other tomes have been written collecting dust on shelves in stacks Je souhaite to renew us, for you, to come back

The complete English translation follows below.

This poem was inspired by thoughts about libraries and I briefly associated it with the idea of life and relationships. The idea of likening it to finding someone that you never tire of spending time with unlike the tomes collecting dust on the shelves. You may have the call number (akin to a phone number), but the book remains inaccessible to you. In that moment, it seems that the unseen pages have so much to offer.

The pivot occurs at the end.

The language briefly switches to a wish for renewal. You realize the book has already been returned, so you put it on hold. You can’t access the pages, because it’s not yours to behold anymore. The use of renewal plays on the idea of renewing a book, extending the time. However, our narrator misses the point. As much as they wish to renew, they can’t renew what they don’t already have. They can’t come back to them.

my darling, I hold your call number, but your book, closed. Your pages, contain more wealth than Alexandria’s. Other tomes have been written collecting dust on shelves in stacks I wish to renew us, for you, to come back

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