Dordrecht

By MARCEL PROUST

A baker in the square

Where nothing stirs but a pigeon

Reflections in an icy blue canal—

A great red mould,

A barge slipping forward, disturbing

A waterlily, sunlight

In the baker’s mirror flitting over a red currant

Tart,

Scaring hell out of a feasting fly.

At the end of the mass, here comes everybody—alleluia,

Holy Mother of Angels

Come, let’s take a boat ride on the canal

After a little nap.

–October, 1902

Marcel Proust (1871-1922) was a French writer, most famous for his seven-volume novel À la recherche du temps perdu (“In Search of Lost Time”). “Dordrecht” is taken from a new volume of his collected poetry, The Collected Poems of Marcel Proust,  (Penguin Classics), which is edited by Harold Augenbraum and  reviewed at The Huffington Post by The Common’s poetry editor, John Hennessy.

Photo by Marianne de Wit from Flickr Creative Commons