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Il pleure dans mon coeur (“It rains in my heart”)
by Paul Verlaine
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

It rains in my heart
As it rains on the town;
Heavy languor and dark
Drenches my heart.

Oh, the sweet-sounding rain
Cleansing pavements and roofs!
For my listless heart's pain
The pure song of the rain!

Still it rains without reason
In my overcast heart.
Can it be there's no treason?
That this grief's without reason?

As my heart floods with pain,
Lacking hatred, or love,
I've no way to explain
Such bewildering pain!



Spleen
by Paul Verlaine
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The roses were so very red;
The ivy, impossibly black.

Dear, with a mere a turn of your head,
My despair’s flooded back!

The sky was too gentle, too blue;
The sea, far too windswept and green.

Yet I always imagined—or knew—
I’d again feel your spleen.

Now I’m tired of the glossy waxed holly,
Of the shimmering boxwood too,

Of the meadowland’s endless folly,
When all things, alas, lead to you!



L'Eternité (“ Eternity”)
by Arthur Rimbaud
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Where does Eternity dwell?
In the sea,
run beyond the setting sun. 

Implacable Sentinel,
murmuring the soul’s confessions
of night’s barrenness
and days ablaze.

Inhuman votary!
Free of human impulses
and penitence,
you flee accordingly.

Since the beginning of time
you have stood alone,
amid shimmering embers,
exuding voicelessly:

“There is no hope,
no logical orientation,
no future revelation of patient science,
only the inhuman torture.”

Where does Eternity dwell?
In the sea,
run beyond the setting sun.



Illuminations VIII: Départ (“Departure”)
by Arthur Rimbaud
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I’ve seen enough: the same vision encountered under all skies.

I’ve had enough: the rumors of cities, by night and by day, the same light, always.

I’ve known enough: life’s tedious decrees, its rumors and visions!

It’s time for departure into new affections, new noises!



Paul-Marie Verlaine (1844-1896) was a French poet and a prominent figure in the Symbolist and Decadent poetry movements. Verlaine has been called "one of the most purely lyrical of French poets." He and his fellow French poet Arthur Rimbaud were lovers. Keywords/Tags: Verlaine, French, translation, Paris, rain, languor, heart, treason, reason, pain, hate, hatred, love, spleen, roses, sky, sea, despair, eternity, soul, cities, departure, illuminations
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