René Char: Two Poems

LINE OF FAITH 

The grace of the stars is to invite us to speak, to show us we are not alone, that the dawn has a roof and my flame, your two palms.

 

RECEIVING ORION

Who do you seek, brown bees
In the lavender arising out of sleep?
Here comes your servant King.
He is blind and led by whim.
A hunter, he eschews
the flowers that pursue him.
He bends his bow and each beast shimmers.
High is his night; arrows, take your chances. 

A human meteor has the earth for honey.

 

Translated from the French of René Char, Oeuvres complètes (Paris: Gallimard, 1983).