To a Teacher from Tournai Met in Lille

The fisherman: evening effect by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, c. 1865.

J’y suis arrivé

tout a fait étranger.

Je venais de Calais,

le vent m’y poussait.

Poussière, fumée,

pierres, acier,

pavés, chantiers,

pleine de gens, d’industrie,

peu de vent, de vie.

De beauté

il n’y avait pas,

sauf toi.

Mais tu es apparue

sur murs, sur rues,

musées, fumée,

chantiers, acier,

je n’y vois que toi.

Quelle belle ville

qu’est Lille.

written April 1965 in Lille

Translation

I arrived there

completely a stranger.

I came from Calais.

The wind pushed me there.

Dust, smoke,

stone, steel,

pavement, construction sites.

Full for people and industry,

with little wind or life.

There was nothing beautiful

but you.

But you appeared

on walls and streets,

museum, smoke,

construction sites, steel.

I don’t see anything there but you.

What a beautiful city

is Lille.

List of Richard’s other stories, poems, jokes, and essays.