“Hotel” [by Guillaume Apollinaire; trans. David Lehman]

My room’s the shape of a cage

The sun crooks his arm through the bars

But I, who smoke to make a mirage,

Let the flame of day light my cigar

I don’t want to work I want to smoke

 

 

far left: Apollinaire; left: portrait of Apollinaire by Giorgio de Chirico (1917)