Pierre Martory

The grace of a passion without storms has been granted to me

And I asked no one for it.

Thus blessings and an extravagant reprieve

Are received sometimes, before the sin is committed.
I accept it like manna for my gluttony,

I absorb it through all the openings of my soul

I let this rhythm beyond my limits live in me,

And carry me beyond every resolution.
What serenity flows from this frankness with myself!

So I don't need reality's trampoline for flight?

What amplitude to this communion!

The mystic surge of this granted trust!
For I could have known love only

As a sky of tears overhanging a lake of storms

And sunk under the waves and been damned

Like those dark bodies circling Dante's barque.
Maybe pleasure wouldn't have been charged to my account

But nausea would have entered me

After so much sad conniving

When I'd have given in to so many temptations.
And today I taste the bread of my good luck

This food makes my heart grow stronger

Already my body has reached the tops of those tall trees

Whose leaves vibrate with joy in the wind of life.

(translated from the French by John Ashbery)