Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ALBUMS, by JULES LAFORGUE



Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ALBUMS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They told me the life of the far west and the prairie
Last Line: These albums! Not unbreakable, my toys! ...
Subject(s): Prairies; Plains


They told me the life of the Far West and the Prairie.
And my blood surged: "That's the life for me!"
Outcast of the old world, heedless and contrary,
Desperado! That's the place! Out there, king! I'll be.
Out there I will scalp myself of my European brain!
Prancing on the prairie like a virgin antelope,
Freed from literature, I'll be big bad man of the plain,
Hissing Californian jargon on luck's slope!
A pure wandering planter, breeder, architect,
Hunter, fisher, gambler, beyond all legal sins!
Between the sea and the states of the Mormon sect!
Venison and whisky! Clad in skins,
With the prairie-grass for a bed, and primordial skies
Rich as the baskets gorgeous weddings draw! ...
And then what? Bivouac to bivouac, and Lynch law;
Today uncut diamonds on our fingers, prize
Of the night at play; and tomorrow speed again
To the prairie and the lure of the nugget's madness.

Grown old, a farm toward the sunrise, when
A milch-cow turns at romping youngsters' gladness.
And, as I can draw if I must, on the gate a sign:
"Tatooer of arms for all the roundabout!"
And there you are. ... And if ever I start to pine
For Paris, hearing: "Not by a long shot out
Of me, yet! Nor will your children roam!"—
And if, great vulture of the Rockies, in your flight
You reveal the Infinite, enemy of home—
Very well, I shall create a new garden of delight,
A cult of the golden age, an empirical social order
Framed for the modern and mystic shepherd peoples of the border.

How splendid these bonfires are! And what decoys
These albums! Not unbreakable, my toys! ...





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...



Home: PoetryExplorer.net