Robert Desnos, J’AI TANT RÊVÉ DE TOI translated by Ian Monk
I'VE DREAMED OF YOU SO MUCH
I’ve dreamed of you so much that you’ve become unreal.
Is there time left to get to your living body and candy-kiss that mouth at
the source of a voice so dear to me?
I’ve dreamed of you so much that my arms grown used to clutching your
shade to my chest may not fold around the form of your body.
And then, before the actual presence that has haunted and bossed me
for days and years I’ll become a shadow no doubt.
Sentimental swings and balances.
I’ve dreamed of you so much that I’ve clearly got no time to wake up.
A walking ghost, my body exposed to everything seeming to be about
life and my love for you, the only one who matters to me now, I could
less touch your forehead and your lips than any lips and forehead I
run into to.
I’ve dreamed of you so much, walked, talked, slept with your ghost that
maybe nothing’s left, except to be a ghost among ghosts and a
hundred times shadier than the shade that walks and will walk
lightly across your life’s sundial.
Translator’s Note:
Translation made in a single draft, according to my usual hit or miss method. I’m not a thinking translator.
Ian Monk
World Poetry Review 