Poem of the week

Georgio de Chirico by Paul Eluard
(1924, translated by Tom Hibbard)

A wall denounces another wall
And the shadows defend me from my timid shadow
O tower of my love surrounding my love
My silence turns the walls white

What do you defend? Sky unfeeling and clear,
Trembling you sheltered me. The prominent light
In the sky is no longer the mirror of the sun
But the stars of day among green leaves.

The memory of those who spoke without knowing,
Masters of my weakness. And I have replaced them
With eyes of love and hands too loyal
To depopulate a world from which I am absent.