Woman In Love, Paul Éluard

She is standing on my eyes
And her hair is in my hair;
She has the figure of my hands
And the colour of my sight.
She is swallowed in my shade
Like a stone against the ·sky.

She will never close her eyes
And will never let me sleep;
And her dreams in day’s full light
Make the suns evaporate,
Make me laugh and cry and laugh,
Speak when I have nought to say.

From "Paul Eluard Selected Poems", Selected and translated by Gilbert Bowen, Copyright © this translation by John Calder (Publishers) Ltd 1988 

We Two, Paul Eluard

We two take each other by the hand
We believe everywhere in our house
Under the soft tree under the black sky
Beneath the roofs at the edge of the fire
In the empty street in broad daylight
In the wandering eyes of the crowd
By the side of the foolish and wise
Among the grown-ups and children
Love’s not mysterious at all
We are the evidence ourselves
In our house lovers believe.

This poem appeared in Le Phenix, 1951.

I Love You, Paul Éluard

I love you for all the women I haven’t known
I love you for all the times in which I haven’t lived
For the scent of wide open spaces and the smell of hot bread
For the melting snow and for the first flowers
For the innocent animals which haven’t been frightened by man
I love you to love
I love you for all the women I don’t love

Who reflects me if not you yourself–I see myself so little
Without you I see nothing but an empty expanse
Between those other times and today
There have been all those deaths that I have crossed on straw
I have not been able to break through the wall of my mirror
I’ve had to learn life word by word
How one forgets

I love you for your wisdom, which is not mine
For health
I love you against everything which is only illusion
For that immortal heart over which I have no power
You think that you are doubt but you’re just reason
You are the powerful sun that rushes to my head
When I am sure of myself

This poem appeared on Le Phenix (1951), Unknown translator