Surfing the great interweb, I came across old Nihon Distractions today, and I read a great post about Ishikawa Takuboku and a book of poetry he wrote, On Knowing Oneself Too Well. While reading the review, and in particular the sections from Ishikawa's poem about smoking, I was put in mind of a poem by Apollinaire, Hôtel. I tried searching for Oliver Bernard's translation, which is the one I have in my bookshelf, but I could only find that wretched one in the above link. The French being mercifully simple, I decided to give it a go putting it into English myself.
My room resembles a cage,
The sun puts his arm through the window
But I who want to smoke and dream
I light my cigarette with the sunlight.
I do not want to work -- I want to smoke.
I later found a great version of the poem here.
