The hump-backed barber Célestin Lemaire,

Old madame Michel in her three-wheeled chair,

And filing past to Vespers, two and two,

The demoiselles of the pensionnat.

Towed like a ship through the harbour bar,

Safe into port, where le petit Jésus

Perhaps makes nothing of the look they shot at you:

Si, c’est défendu, mais que voulez-vous?

It was the sun. The sunshine weaves

A pattern on dull stones: the sunshine leaves