Here you will find the Long Poem The Bestiary: or Orpheuss Procession of poet Guillaume Apollinaire
(Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d?Orphée) Orpheus Admire the vital power And nobility of line: It?s the voice that the light made us understand here That Hermes Trismegistus writes of in Pimander. The Tortoise From magic Thrace, O delerium! My sure fingers sound the strings. The creatures pass to the sounds Of my tortoise, and the songs I sing. The Horse My harsh dreams knew the riding of you My gold-charioted fate will be your lovely car That for reins will hold tight to frenzy, My verses, the patterns of all poetry. The Tibetan Goat The fleece of this goat and even That gold one which cost such pain To Jason?s not worth a sou towards The tresses with which I?m taken. The Serpent You set yourself against beauty. And how many women have been victims of your cruelty! Eve, Eurydice, Cleopatra: I know three or four more after. The Cat I wish there to be in my house: A woman possessing reason, A cat among books passing by, Friends for every season Lacking whom I?m barely alive. The Lion O lion, miserable image Of kings lamentably chosen, Now you?re only born in a cage In Hamburg, among the Germans. The Hare Don?t be fearful and lascivious Like the hare and the amorous. But always let your brain weave The full form that conceives. The Rabbit There?s another cony I remember That I?d so like to take alive. Its haunt is there among the thyme In the valleys of the Land of Tender. The Dromedary With his four dromedaries Don Pedro of Alfaroubeira Travels the world and admires her. He does what I would rather If I?d those four dromedaries. The Mouse Sweet days, the mice of time, You gnaw my life, moon by moon. God! I?ve twenty eight years soon, and badly spent ones I imagine. The Elephant I carry treasure in my mouth, As an elephant his ivory. At the price of flowing words, Purple death!?I buy my glory. Orpheus Look at this pestilential tribe Its thousand feet, its hundred eyes: Beetles, insects, lice And microbes more amazing Than the world?s seventh wonder And the palace of Rosamunde! The Caterpillar Work leads us to riches. Poor poets, work on! The caterpillar?s endless sigh Becomes the lovely butterfly. The Fly The songs that our flies know Were taught to them in Norway By flies who are they say Divinities of snow. The Flea Fleas, friends, lovers too, How cruel are those who love us! All our blood pours out for them. The well-beloved are wretched then. The Grasshopper Here?s the slender grasshopper The food that fed Saint John. May my verse be similar, A treat for the best of men. Orpheus His heart was the bait: the heavens were the pond! For, fisherman, what fresh or seawater catch equals him, either in form or savour, that lovely divine fish, Jesus, My Saviour? The Dolphin Dolphins, playing in the sea The wave is bitter gruel. Does my joy sometimes erupt? Yet life is still so cruel. The Octopus Hurling his ink at skies above, Sucking the blood of what he loves And finding it delicious, Is myself the monster, vicious. The Jellyfish Medusas, miserable heads With hairs of violet You enjoy the hurricane And I enjoy the very same. The Lobster Uncertainty, O my delights You and I we go As lobsters travel onwards, quite Backwards, Backwards, O. The Carp In your pools, and in your ponds, Carp, you indeed live long! Is it that death forgets to free You fishes of melancholy? Orpheus The female of the Halcyon, Love, the seductive Sirens, All know the fatal songs Dangerous and inhuman. Don?t listen to those cursed birds But Paradisial Angels? words. The Sirens Do I know where your ennui?s from, Sirens, When you grieve so widely under the stars? Sea, I am like you, filled with broken voices, And my ships, singing, give a name to the years. The Dove Dove, both love and spirit Who engendered Jesus Christ, Like you I love a Mary. And so with her I marry. The Peacock In spreading out his fan, this bird, Whose plumage drags on earth, I fear, Appears more lovely than before, But makes his derrière appear. The Owl My poor heart?s an owl One woos, un-woos, re-woos. Of blood, of ardour, he?s the fowl. I praise those who love me, too. Ibis Yes, I?ll pass fearful shadows O certain death, let it be so! Latin mortal dreadful word, Ibis, Nile?s native bird.