My Own

Gustave Kahn

1897

My lovely lady is like flights of scent—
the other day she opened like a flower—
She is beautiful as angels in the spring—
the other night her sun warmed my heart—
My lady’s lips are the single caress—
spiritual gardens blossom below them—
Mid the din, she is a temple; in a crowd, the horizon—
   her embrace, the summer season—
The other morning, winter’s night was in her sadness—
the voice of my lady, a magical sound—
With her, all of life will open like a flower—
my lady is beautiful, like the resurrection—

Translated by
Michele McKay
Aynesworth
.

Credits

Gustave Kahn, “La mienne” [My Own], from Premiers Poèmes (Paris: Société du Mercure de France, 1897) p. 218.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 7.

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Creator Bio

Gustave Kahn

1859–1936

The symbolist poet and literary critic Gustave Kahn was born in Metz but moved to Paris with his family when Germany annexed Lorraine in 1870. Kahn was a contributor to many literary reviews and in the interwar years wrote weekly columns for daily newspapers. From 1932 until his death, Kahn edited the French Zionist journal Menorah. One of the first French poets to write free verse, he was also an avid advocate and defender of the new literary style. The Dreyfus Affair made Kahn more conscious of his Jewish background, as did the mounting antisemitism of the 1930s, and although he was distant from communal affairs, he became an active supporter of Zionism.

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