POETRY: I Love You - Paul Eluard

I LOVE YOU by PAUL ÉLUARD

I love you for all the women I haven’t known

I love you for all the times in which I haven’t lived

For the scent of the wide open spaces and the smell of hot bread

For the melting snow and for the first flowers

For the innocent animals which haven’t been frightened by man

I love you to loveI love you for all the women I don’t love

Who reflects me if not you yourself-I see myself so little

Without you I see nothing but an empty space

Between those other times and today

There have been all those deaths that I have crossed on straw

I have not been able to break through the wall of my mirror

I’ve had to learn life word by word

How one forgets

I love you for all the wisdom, which is not mine

For health

I love you against everything which is only illusion

For that immortal heart over which I have no power

You think that you are doubt but you’re just reason

You are the powerful sun that rushes to my head

When I am sure of myself