Guillaume Apollinaire
Here you are again near me
Memories of my companions who died in the war
The olive of time
Memories that become one
Like a hundred furs make one coat
Like these thousands of wounds make one
newspaper
article Impalpable and dark appearance that have taken
The changing form of my shadow
An Indian on the lookout for eternity
Shadow you crawl near me
But you no longer hear me
You will no longer know the divine poems that I sing
While I hear you I still see you
Destinies
Multiple shadow that the sun keeps for you
You who love me enough to never leave me
And who dance in the sun without making dust
Ink shadow of the sun
Writing of my light
Box of regrets
A god who humbles himself
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Analysis (AI Assisted)
This war poem delves into the complex relationship between memory, loss, and identity. The speaker reflects on the memories of fallen companions, blending the past with the present as he struggles to understand the permanence of those experiences and their lasting impact. The opening lines, “Here you are again near me / Memories of my companions who died in the war,” introduce the central theme of the poem: the haunting presence of memories that accompany the speaker long after the war’s end. These memories, which once seemed individual and separate, have now fused into one entity, just as “a hundred furs make one coat” or “thousands of wounds make one newspaper article.”
The poem explores how trauma and loss transform into something impersonal, something that might be read in a news article but loses its individual significance. The use of “newspaper article” suggests how large-scale suffering is often reduced to a mere headline, dehumanizing the personal tragedies behind it. The metaphor of the “olive of time” suggests that these memories are bound by time, but also serve as something foundational—an enduring element that the speaker cannot escape.
The image of the “Indian on the lookout for eternity” adds an element of mysticism to the poem, hinting at the eternal search for meaning in the face of death and loss. This figure, always watching, may represent the speaker’s own desire to understand or reconcile with the past, yet there is an underlying sense of futility as “shadow you crawl near me / But you no longer hear me.” The speaker acknowledges that the dead and their memories are no longer present in the way they once were—they do not “hear” or respond to the speaker’s longing.
The line “Destinies / Multiple shadow that the sun keeps for you” evokes a sense of inexorable fate, where the past and the dead are always with the speaker, but ultimately unreachable. The image of shadows, which are simultaneously close and distant, mirrors the speaker’s internal conflict: they are always part of him, but they are no longer fully “alive” in a way that can provide solace or understanding.
“Shadow you crawl near me” and the subsequent reflections on the dance of shadows in the sun—”without making dust”—present the idea of memories or lost lives as ethereal and intangible, never fully graspable or material. Shadows, while present, remain distant, much like the way the speaker perceives his fallen comrades—close in memory, but far beyond reach.
The phrase “Ink shadow of the sun” is a striking metaphor for the ways in which the speaker’s memories are written in the very fabric of existence. The “ink” could symbolize how these memories are indelibly marked in the speaker’s consciousness, yet it is the “shadow” of the sun, suggesting that they are partial, fleeting, and difficult to fully comprehend. The “box of regrets” is a powerful image, encapsulating the guilt and sorrow the speaker feels—an internal container that holds these feelings of loss and regret, much like how a god might humble himself by confronting the weight of his own actions.
In conclusion, this poem speaks to the complexity of memory and mourning after war. The speaker’s shifting relationship with the past reveals a deep tension between the need to remember and the impossibility of ever fully understanding or overcoming the pain of loss. Through metaphors of shadows, time, and the eternal search for meaning, the poem captures the inescapable nature of grief and the difficulty of reconciling with both the personal and collective costs of war.