The Apples
by Yves Bonnefoy
And what are we to think
Of these yellow apples?
Yesterday they startled us, waiting naked
After the leaves had fallen.
Today they enchant us,
Their shoulders
Underlined so modestly
With a hem of snow.
At university Yves Bonnefoy (French, born 1923) studied mathematics and philosophy and, later, art history. Although he has written about art and art history, it is his poetry that has earned him the reputation as one of the most important voices in contemporary world literature. "The Apple" is from Debut et fin de la neige (Beginning and end of snow) and was translated by Lisa Spanikopf.
by Yves Bonnefoy
And what are we to think
Of these yellow apples?
Yesterday they startled us, waiting naked
After the leaves had fallen.
Today they enchant us,
Their shoulders
Underlined so modestly
With a hem of snow.
At university Yves Bonnefoy (French, born 1923) studied mathematics and philosophy and, later, art history. Although he has written about art and art history, it is his poetry that has earned him the reputation as one of the most important voices in contemporary world literature. "The Apple" is from Debut et fin de la neige (Beginning and end of snow) and was translated by Lisa Spanikopf.
