The Book of the Snow (by François Jacqmin, translated by Philip Mosley)

Griffin Prize for Excellence In Poetry, The (2001 - 0)

Original Text

François Jacqmin, The Book of the Snow, trans. Philip Mosley (Todmorden, UK: Arc Publications, 2010). This poem is reproduced on the Griffin Prize Web Site (from a volume on the 2011 International Shortlist).

1Hounded by the night, the snow pushed the door

2and advanced to the heart of the abode.

3It penetrated

4like those gentle convictions you have

5in dreams.

6Then it sat down in the middle of the hearth.

7Installed in the fold of the flames,

8it contemplated

9my thoughts. It was tired of its whiteness,

10and awaited my compassionate shadow.

11The snow is everywhere, and its softness drives

12the sacred orators to despair.

13There is no longer a single spot for you

14to place a metaphor.

15Its art

16is so pure that it begets not the pain

17of a conviction.

18The hearing is its word. It is in the endless belfry

19of its whiteness

20that my finest understatements ring out.

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire

RPO Edition

2011