No Sign of Life: A Tragic Gag of Raymond Radiguet

Frank Stanford

after Jean Cocteau

Although my father's mistress ealled me Camille
she was not a silkworm
but a maker of silk

And so the old myths of regret are reborn
without their heroes ever knowing it
gloom is a starfish lodged in the groin

In these rooms I have listened
to a black horse tapping
over a grave

I have seen doors
through which Death comes and goes
picked clean

Paris my five hundred francs
have disappeared in your filthy river
my blood hung and in bunches like a banana tree

Long artillery of night
commanded by the lieutenants of youth
eyes half-open like wounds

I am a lie who always tells the truth
an ass bearing the Lord of dreams
an enormous parrot with no sign of life

Slim boat of the dead and soon to be dead
I have drawn my mouth on your canvas
in ink that goes away with moonlight

All my friends pretend you are dying
because I'm only pretending to weep
with no sign of life

Ginny Stanford