"Salut monde dont je suis la langue éloquente que sa bouche O Paris tire et tirera toujours aux allemands." Greetings world, I am the eloquent tongue which poke
…s from your mouth, O Paris, to forever poke at the Germans. I was looking for this translation and ended up translating it myself. I borrowed from Claudia Habergham's translation, which made excellent use of the English word "poke" in a very tricky situation. The poem can be read as a tongue in cheek or glib joke or as a defiant provocation to the Germans. Ironically, the German army marched into Paris 25 or so years after he wrote this poem. See Claudia's English translation of the calligram poem at Stephen Spender's Trust. (MORE) 
