Jeudi Saint.(Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker
Jeudi Saint.(Translation) .
Ils sont gentils ici, de nous permettre d'attendre si tard,
Longtemps apres que les volets soient mis.
Un serveur glisse de la cuisine tenant une assiette
De ragout, ou de la soupe grasse,
Et s'assied a la prochaine table sauf une.
Nous savons, toi et moi, que c'est fini,
Que quelquechose ou d'autre est venu entre
Nous, tout ce que nous sommes, ou nous etions.
Le serveur essuie son assiette du pain
Et boit ce qui reste de son vin,
Puis il range encore, un a un,
Le couteau, la fourchette, la cuillere, la serviette,
La table elle-meme, la chaise qu'il a simplement empruntee,
Et sourit, et s'incline a son absence.
-' Holy Thursday'. Paul Muldoon b.1951.
The poem is set in a restaurant at night on Holy Thursday: Easter is evoked in 'bread' and 'wine'.
A couple dining have been allowed to linger on, ' after the shutters are up'. A waiter comes out of the kitchen, with a plate of stew or thick soup. He sits at the next-but-one table to the couple, puts gread in his soup, drinks his wine, rearranges the cutlery, puts back the chair he has borrowed 'and smiles and bows to his own absence'. Meanwhile the couple have fallen out: 'We know, you and I, that it's over, '. Something has come between them emotionally, as the enigmatic waiter did physically. Typically with Muldoon, we are left wondering what has gone wrong, and what part the waiter played.
An authentic poem, written in the voice of our time.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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8/29/2026 11:51:09 AM # rel_20260827T145718Z_a0f1bd3
