Patrice de La Tour du Pin (1911–1975) was born in Paris and raised in the Gâtinais. After a long imprisonment in Germany during World War II, he envisioned the three-part work for which he is known: Une somme de poésie. The first part confronts man’s relationship to himself; the second, his relation to the world; and the third, a relationship to God in which poetry becomes a form of prayer. Du Pin also worked on translating the Catholic Mass into the vernacular.

Four Poems

by Patrice de La Tour du Pin, translated by Jennifer Grotz


Laurence Sleeping

Underfoot this scent of narcissus and mint
because your feet on their light way
have crushed fresh blooms—a spring night’s flowers
flood my heart’s sleeping waves;

And quite high up these polite legs
still trembling from the tall grass’s caress
rises this organic perfume as I remove
your stockings splashed with rain or dew;
People on couch
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