Flaubert wanted to write a novel br About nothing. It was to have no subject br And be sustained upon the style alone, br Like the Holy Ghost cruising above br The abyss, or like the little animals br In Disney cartoons who stand upon a branch br That breaks, but do not fall br Till they look down. He never wrote that novel, br And neither did he write another one br That would have been called La Spirale, br Wherein the hero's fortunes were to rise br In dreams, while his walking life disintegrated. br br Even so, for these two books br We thank the master. They can be read, br With difficulty, in the spirit alone, br Are not so wholly lost as certain works br Burned at Alexandria, flooded at Florence, br And are never taught at universities. br Moreover, they are not deformed by style, br That fire that eats what it illuminates.