Samaine Bouinou

At the bus shelter

Cold wind and rain on the bus-shelter.

Wind-blow and rain-rap on the roof.

Light and aloneness in the bus-shelter,

It is late, night falls, there's a wet bench

A street light, grey road, dripping rain.

And . a huge perspex-faced photo of a street, rain,

Everything in it dark as midnight, a perfect place to write:

Every man is entitled to a roof over his head.

How much was spent on this poster-street in its rain,

A street without a shelter?

Translated by Fred Johnston

('Sous l'Abri Bus' appears in Semaine Bouinou's collection, Poésie Libre , published by Éditions des Écrivains, Paris, 2003)