I Love You Paul Eluard

I love you for all the women I have not known

I love you for all the time I have not lived

For the odor of the open sea and the odor of warm bread

For the snow which melts for the first flowers

For the pure animals man doesn’t frighten

I love you to love

I love you for all the women I do not love

Who reflects me if not you I see myself so little

Without you I see nothing but an extended desert

Between long ago and today

There are all those deaths that I crossed on the straw I have not been able to pierce the wall of my mirror

I have had to learn life word by word

As one forgets

I love you for your wisdom which is not mine

For health

I love you against everything that is but illusion

For the immortal heart that I do not possess

You believe you are doubt you are only reason

You are the great sun which makes me drunk

When I am sure of me.

Paul Eluard