The Star Wept~ L'étoile a pleuré

The star wept rose-colored in the heart of your ears,

L'étoile a pleuré rose au cœur de tes oreilles,

The infinite rolled white from your nape to your loins;

L'infini roulé blanc de ta nuque à tes reins;

The sea turned ruddy at your vermilion nipples,

La mer a perlé rousse à tes mammes vermeilles,

And Man bled black on your sovereign flank.

Et I'Homme saigné noir à ton flanc souverain.

–Arthur Rimbaud

A forerunner of the surrealists, Arthur Rimbaud wrote every one of his extant poems before he was twenty years old, including the “Sonnet des voyelles” (“ Vowels”),  here presented in French and with the English translation by Wallace Fowlie on alternating lines. The poet has assigned colors to the vowels—

A  black, E white, I red, O blue, U green.  “I flattered myself that I was inventing a poetic language available . . . to all the senses,”  wrote Rimbaud.  “The Star Wept”‑-a quatrain which further explores color symbolism -‑is appended to "Vowels" to complete this edition.  Henri Cartier‑Bresson, who is as famous for his paintings as for his photographs, has created three swirling watercolors which further explore the evocative power of colors.

Cartier‑Bresson's three watercolors have been translated into multicolor wood blocks by Keiji Shinohara.  Each required the cutting of from twenty‑three to thirty separate blocks-‑one for each color. The beautiful textured paper was made by hand in Japan. The book was hand bound in the same natural linen that covers the box.