Chapter 49 II Departure from Montparnasse to join the war (2) The game is over

We don't go to the woods anymore, the laurel has been cut.Lovers go to the battlefield to die, and mistresses cheat at home. Guillaume Apollinaire On November 3, 1918, Guillaume Apollinaire, accompanied by Flemish and his wife, came out of his home and went downstairs.He invited the couple to have lunch with him.Two men were discussing the poet's newly completed play "Characteristics of the Times" on the Rue Saint-Germain.The play will be staged by the Art and Freedom Theater Company in two weeks.Vlaminck was in charge of the sets.After they broke up, Apollinaire walked towards the "Excelsior" newspaper, where he often contributed and collaborated.

In the evening, Apollinaire developed a high fever.He was lying in the bedroom unable to go out.On the bedroom wall hangs a painting of him by Marie Lorenson.In that painting, he is with Max Jacob and Picasso.Apollinaire feels bad, and it's not the same as before.But he still doesn't want to go to the hospital because he's been in the hospital for so long since his head injury and he's afraid of it. His body temperature continued to rise and he was sweating profusely.Jacqueline was worried and anxious, but she didn't call the doctor, they were waiting. The next day, Max Jacob came and so did Picasso.Gone and came back.They went to Jean Cocteau in the Rue Anjou and asked him to inform Dr. Camas.What disease did he have?Maybe it's pulmonary congestion, maybe it's something else.No one knows.

It's Spanish flu.It is believed that the disease was brought back from Asia by Spanish sailors.In fact, it was brought from the United States by expeditionary forces and spread rapidly in Europe.It knocks people out faster than war, killing 25 million people in two years.To evacuate the infected, French generals signed an armistice with the Germans on the Chemin de Damme front.In Paris, coffin after coffin lined up to the cemetery, and one of the coffins contained the French poet and playwright Edmond Rostang. Guillaume Apollinaire was never afraid of death when he was with death every day on the battlefield.Now when he saw death approaching, he was terrified.Unwilling to die like this, he repeatedly begged Dr. Camas to save him.He still can't figure it out, he can save a life from the pile of shells, but he can't escape the clutches of a tiny microbe!

Apollinaire's friends came to visit him again and again.Jacqueline Apollinaire, Max Jacobs and Serge Ferrat have been waiting by his bedside, never leaving.The sky is clear and sunny outside, and the interior is full of flowers. At 5 o'clock in the afternoon on January 9, 1918, death slowly approached 202 Avenue Saint-Germain in Paris. Guillaume Apollinaire was wearing an officer's uniform, with a military cap next to him, lying peacefully on the bed.The war is coming to an end.The death toll reached more than 8 million, and the wounded reached 20 million.The poet Guillaume Apollinaire covered with the tricolor flag was sent to the Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

A platoon of the 237th Home Guard Regiment came to pay his respects.Mrs. Kostowski walked at the front of the funeral procession, Picasso followed closely behind the coffin, and behind him were Max Jacobs, André Salmon, Blaise Sandras, Pierre Él-Marc Holland, Paul Faure, Jean Cocteau, Fernand Lecher, Mei Jingqi, Jacques Ducet, Paul Leotto, Alfred Valette , Rahilde, Léon-Paul Falgue, Paul Guillaume... and many others.The armistice was signed two days ago.Thousands of people shouted the slogan "Apollinaire lives forever!" on the street to celebrate the victory. On the evening of the funeral, Pablo Picasso left the Lyteria mansion, returned to the house where he had lived, and packed his clothes.The next day he sent Gertrude Stein a letter informing her that he was moving to the Rue La Boétie.He crossed the Seine again, from the left bank of the Seine back to the right bank of the Seine again.