Fairy Tale | A poem by Robert Desnos, 1900-1945
Many times upon a time
There was a man who loved a woman.
Many times upon a time
There was a woman who loved a man.
Many times upon a time
There was a man and there was a woman
Who did not love the ones who loved them.
Once upon a time
Perhaps only once
A man and a woman who loved each other.
Robert Desnos, Fairy Tale
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< Robert Desnos, Paris, 1940
Also:
I Have Dreamed Of You So Much
I have dreamed of you so much that you are no longer real.
Is there still time for me to reach your breathing body, to kiss your mouth and make
your dear voice come alive again?
I have dreamed of you so much that my arms, grown used to being crossed on my
chest as I hugged your shadow, would perhaps not bend to the shape of your body.
For faced with the real form of what has haunted me and governed me for so many
days and years, I would surely become a shadow.
O scales of feeling.
I have dreamed of you so much that surely there is no more time for me to wake up.
I sleep on my feet prey to all the forms of life and love, and you, the only one who
counts for me today, I can no more touch your face and lips than touch the lips and
face of some passerby.
I have dreamed of you so much, have walked so much, talked so much, slept so much
with your phantom, that perhaps the only thing left for me is to become a phantom
among phantoms, a shadow a hundred times more shadow than the shadow the
moves and goes on moving, brightly, over the sundial of your life.
Robert Desnos/ J’ai tant rêvé de toi / 1926 / Corps et biens / 1930
'J'ai tant rêvé de toi' is one of seven poems composed in 1926
and addressed 'À la mystérieuse'. They were inspired by Yvonne
Georges music hall singer who died of tuberculosis in 1930,
at the age of 33, just before the publication in May.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUrKE2OxWtM
Yvonne George / Pars / 1928
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