Bernard Hibou: Rare Bird?

Bernard Hibou

(Image from Blogger)

The charmingly dapper fellow depicted above took a gander at the fowl fiend pictured below and posted a few words over at my son's blog, where this image of Kim Jong-il originally appeared.


Here are the few words from Bernard Hibou:

Awesome picture En-Uk -- I love the idea of Kim Jung Il walking down the street and impaling passing birds with his wild hair! They should get rid of the military parades and just have him doing that~

I agree with Mr. Hibou words of wisdom . . . but who-who is Hibou? His blog, The Poop-deck, advertises itself thusly:

A space for internet poop, assembled by yours truly, Bernard Hibou -- Raconteur, retired admiral, erotic French poetry author

Erotic poetry, eh? I assume Hibou was a rear admiral. Be that as it may, a single, singular entry appears, entitled "A lack of interesting material":

I enjoy reading blogs far more than writing for them.

Hmmm . . . okay. But to echo myself, who-who-who are you? Well, this rare bird describes himself as an "erotic French poetry author," and a French poem titled "Le Hibou" -- which has in its third stanza the words "Bernard hibou" -- appears on Blog de lucifiote111:

Mais Bernard hibou dans la vie ne s'énerve jamais
Et mène une existence calme tranquille et raisonnée,
Passionné d'informatique il s'informe sans arrêt
Toujours en quête d'info, recherche de nouveautés.

My own French is too rusty to attempt an explication, but here's the entire French poem:

Le Hibou

L'ami Bernard se fait aussi appeler Nono
Le vieil hibou bien loin d'être barjot
Vit seul et tranquille en plein centre ville
Avec une gitane très fière et volubile.

Un drôle de couple et un sacré duo
Pour la brune électrique et le Bernard Nono
Avec des scènes de ménage à répétition
Et des cris et insultes qui tombent à foison.

Mais Bernard hibou dans la vie ne s'énerve jamais
Et mène une existence calme tranquille et raisonnée,
Passionné d'informatique il s'informe sans arrêt
Toujours en quête d'info, recherche de nouveautés.

Il vit à l'étage en haut des escaliers
Dans un appartement qui est propre et rangé,
C'est un vieux bâtiment au milieu des gitans
Dans un quartier sale qui toujours bruyant.

L'endroit est tagué, occupé tout le temps
Il regorge de monde et ça gueule très souvent,
Avec des prises de tête, des cris et hurlements
Pour une cour des miracles de tous les instants.

Mais le hibou, lunettes au nez, s'est isolé sur son clavier
Et tout en haut des escaliers, loin des gitans et leurs excès,
Sur internet bien connecté, s'est évadé sans trop bouger
Des projets sans preneurs et des rêves fracassés.

Des illusions perdues et des années passées,
Le hibou n'a gardé que des envies brisées,
Qui le poussent chaque jour, encore à galérer
Avec tous les tarés qui squattent dans son entrée.

Bernard Nono vit en territoire hostile
Pour mieux garder sa gitane versatile,
Dans un rapport quasi débile
Où les ruptures tiennent à un fil . . .

Et là est tout le paradoxe du hibou
Qui a des conseils sages et avisés sur tout,
Mais ne paraît pas vraiment déterminé
A transformer sa vie et la faire évoluer.

Hmmm . . . more exotic than erotic. Anyway, here's what Google Translate offers by way of translation, slightly altered by me in my vain fancies:

The Owl

My friend Bernard, also called Nono (Fool),
The old owl, far from being impetuous,
Lives alone and quiet in the city center
With a very proud and talkative gypsy woman.

An odd couple and a sacred duo
For the dark electric one and Bernard Nono,
With domestic scenes repeated
And shouts and insults that fall in abundance.

But Bernard the owl is never annoyed in life
And leads a calm existence, quietly and reasonable;
A computer enthusiast, he inquires incessantly
Always in quest of info, searching the news.

He lives upstairs at the top of the stairwell
In an apartment that is clean and tidy;
It's an old building among the Gypsies
In a dirty quarter that's always noisy.

The place is full of graffiti, busy all the time;
It's teeming with people, and there's a lot of yelling,
With cracking of heads, shouts and screams,
Constantly an extraordinary courtyard.

But the owl, glasses perched on his nose, sits isolated at his keyboard,
And at the top of the stairs, far from the gypsies and their excesses,
On the internet, well connected, escapes without much movement
From plans never undertaken and dreams shattered.

Of lost illusions and years passed,
The owl guards only that broken desire
That pushes him each day, even with difficulty,
Among all the down and out squatting at the entrance.

Bernard Nono lives in hostile territory
The better to keep his gypsy woman versatile
In a relationship somewhat attenuated,
Where rupture hangs by a thread . . .

And there is the paradox of the owl
Who has wise and prudent advice on everything
But does not seem truly determined
To transform his life and make it develop.

Interesting . . . and a bit too close for comfort, given my own 'Gypsy' life in the net. Maybe it's a warning from the ether . . . . But I have two questions: 1) Is the original French poem good? and 2) Is its author the same fellow as Bernard Hibou?

The apparent connections are tantalizing, but I don't know that French admirals retire so early as to be already out of the military at 46 -- the age declared on Lucifiote's Profile.

Anyway, for those who read French well, more poems await . . .