Jean Cocteau’s poem for Welles

Orson Welles is a poet
through his violence
and through his grace.
Never does he tumble
from the tightrope
on which he crosses cities
and their dramas.

He is a poet too in the
Loyal friendship he bears
our dreams and our struggles.

Others will know better than I
how to praise his work.
I content myself with sending him
my fraternal greeting.

His handshake is as firm as he is
and I think of it each time my work
obliges me to leap over an obstacle.