Rene Char (1907 – 1988)
Born René-Émile Char, was a 20th century French poet, and a member of the French Resistance forces of World War II.
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The cries of a dying dog
are to be blotted out
as best I can.
René Char
you are a poet who believes
in the power of beauty
to right all wrongs.
I believe it also.
With invention and courage
we shall surpass
the pitiful dumb beasts,
let all men believe it,
as you have taught me also
to believe it.
I believe in the magic and authority of words.
Why did I become a writer? A bird's feather on my windowpane in winter and all at once there arose in my heart a battle of embers never to subside again.
A poet must leave traces of his passage, not proofs. Only traces bring about dreams.
Char embodies the ideal of the poet fighting for the nobility of the world — the leader of a small resistance group dedicated to honoring the ten thousand things of the universe. Mountains and rivers, flowers and vipers, meteors and rain — everything teems with meaning for this poet. … Illumination was his theme, his method — "For me lightning lasts," Char declared. His work is an essay in revelation.
With my teeth
I have seized life
Upon the knife of my youth.
With my lips today,
With my lips alone…
A tour de force into the ineffable.
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