Saint-Etienne-Les-Orgues

by Francis Combes
 
Down in the south of France, a quiet place,
a village in Provence: a lane called Hell.
Behind a hollyhock-encrusted wall,
a garden hides a hint of Paradise.
 
Books and a cat and friends who sit and dine,
as conversation whiles away the hours
of the sweet evening: trellis, fruit and flowers.
Darkly intense, three or four glow-worms shine…
 
Here Paradise and Hell are side by side
(as ever: was it Aragon who said
Only religions keep them from each other?)
But goodness! On this earth they go together…
 
A plague of jellyfish is headline news.
For the bar’s regulars, fresh coffee’s made.
Doing the Lottery: would that amuse?
The plane-trees make a mix of light and shade.
 
For you! that sweet red paper heart I found
close to the junk-shop, lying on the ground.
Love, let’s not, for ourselves or otherwise,
confuse nostalgia with paradise.

Translated by Timothy Adès.
Published in Agenda, 2019.