I Love You (Je t’aime)

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I love you for all the women I have not known
I love you for all the time I have not lived
For the scent of the open sea and the scent of warm bread
For the snow which melts for the first flowers
For the pure animals man doesn’t frighten
I love you to love
I love you for all the women I do not love

Who reflects me if not you I see myself so little
Without you I see nothing but an extended desert
Between long ago and today
There are all those deaths that I crossed on the straw
I have not been able to pierce the wall of my mirror
I have had to learn life word by word
As one forgets

I love you for your wisdom which is not mine
For health
I love you against everything that is but illusion
For the immortal heart that I do not possess
You believe you are doubt you are only reason
You are the great sun which makes me drunk
When I am sure of me.

-

Paul Éluard

From the collection Last Love Poems of Paul Éluard translated by Marilyn Kallet