“Always” appears in Guillaume Apollinaire's second volume of poetry, Calligrammes, which was published in 1918 and is thought to contain some of his best and most experimental poems. The poem was reprinted in The Self-Dismembered Man, published by Wesleyan University Press in 2004.

“Always” reveals the influence of cubism, an art movement that emerged between 1908 and 1912. Apollinaire was fascinated by the way such modern painters as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were able to imaginatively reconstruct reality in their work. He applied their methods to “Always” as he examined the nature of poetic inspiration and construction. In a series of separate but related images, the poem focuses on the process of exploration of the universe, from its celestial to its terrestrial boundaries, by such diverse figures as Christopher Columbus and the legendary lover Don Juan. Through creative contradictions and ambiguities, Apollinaire investigates in “Always” the poet's desire to create fresh visions of the world.