Poems of Paul Verlaine

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Title: Poems of Paul Verlaine
Author: Paul Verlaine
Release Date: July, 2005 [EBook #8426]?[This file was first posted on July 9, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
? START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, POEMS OF PAUL VERLAINE ***
E-book prepared by Michael Castelluccio
POEMS OF PAUL VERLAINE
Translated by Gertrude Hall
Pictured by Henry McCarter
[Illustration: "Portrait of Paul Verlaine"]
Contents
I. F��TES GALANTES
Clair de Lune?Sur L'Herbe?L'All��e?A la Promenade?Le Faune?Mandoline?L'Amour Par Terre?En Sourdine?Colloque Sentimental
II. LA BONNE CHANSON
Since Shade Relents, Since 'Tis Indeed the Day?Before Your Light Quite Fail?O'er the Wood's Brow?The Scene Behind the Carriage Windowpanes?The Rosy Hearth, The Lamplight's Narrow Beam?It Shall Be, Then, Upon a Summer's Day
III. ROMANCES SANS PAROLES
ARIETTES OUBLI��ES?It Weeps In My Heart?The Keyboard, Over Which Two Slim Hands Float?O Heavy, Heavy My Despair?The Trees' Reflection in the Misty Stream
PAYSAGES BELGES?Bruxelles
BIRDS IN THE NIGHT?You Were Not Over-patient with Me, Dear?But You Will Own That I was in the Right?And Wherefore Should I Lay My Heartwounds Bare??Now I Do Not Intend--What Were the Gain??I See You Still. I Softly Pushed the door?I See You Still. I Softly Dressed in a Summer Dress?Some Moments I'm the Tempest-driven Bark
AQUARELLES?Green?Spleen?Streets
IV. SAGESSE
What Sayst Thou, Traveller, Of All Thou Saw'st Afar??The False Fair Days?Give Ear Unto the Gentle Lay?I've Seen Again the One Child: Verily?"Son, Thou Must Love Me!--See-" My Saviour Said?Hope Shines--As in a Stable a Wisp of Straw?Sleep, Darksome, Deep?The Sky-Blue Smiles Above the Roof?It Is You, It Is You, Poor Better Thoughts?'Tis the Feast of Corn, 'Tis the Feast of Bread
V. JADIS ET NAGU��RE?JADIS?Prologue?Langueur?NAGU��RE?Prologue
VI. PARALL��LEMENT
Impression Fausse
VII. PO��MES SATURNIENS
Prologue
MELANCHOLIA?Nevermore?Apr��s Trois Ans?Mon R��ve Familier?A Une Femme
PAYSAGES TRISTES?Chanson D'Automne?Le Rossignol
CAPRICES?Il Bacio
��PILOGUE
F��tes Galantes
[Illustration: "Clair De Lune"]
CLAIR DE LUNE.
Your soul is as a moonlit landscape fair,
Peopled with maskers delicate and dim,?That play on lutes and dance and have an air
Of being sad in their fantastic trim.
The while they celebrate in minor strain
Triumphant love, effective enterprise,?They have an air of knowing all is vain,--
And through the quiet moonlight their songs rise,
The melancholy moonlight, sweet and lone,
That makes to dream the birds upon the tree,?And in their polished basins of white stone
The fountains tall to sob with ecstasy.
SUR L'HERBE.
"The abb�� rambles."--"You, marquis,
Have put your wig on all awry."--?"This wine of Cyprus kindles me
Less, my Camargo, than your eye!"
"My passion"--"Do, mi, sol, la, si."--
"Abb��, your villany lies bare."--?"Mesdames, I climb up yonder tree
And fetch a star down, I declare."
"Let each kiss his own lady, then
The others."--"Would that I were, too,?A lap-dog!"--"Softly, gentlemen!"--
"Do, mi."--"The moon!"--"Hey, how d'ye do?"
L' ALL��E.
Powdered and rouged as in the sheepcotes' day,?Fragile 'mid her enormous ribbon bows,?Along the shaded alley, where green grows?The moss on the old seats, she wends her way?With mincing graces and affected airs,?Such as more oft a petted parrot wears.?Her long gown with the train is blue; the fan?She spreads between her jewelled fingers slim?Is merry with a love-scene, of so dim?Suggestion, her eyes smile the while they scan.?Blonde; dainty nose; plump, cherry lips, divine?With pride unconscious.--Subtler, certainly,?Than is the mouche there set to underline?The rather foolish brightness of the eye.
A LA PROMENADE.
The milky sky, the hazy, slender trees,
Seem smiling on the light costumes we wear,--?Our gauzy floating veils that have an air?Of wings, our satins fluttering in the breeze.
And in the marble bowl the ripples gleam,
And through the lindens of the avenue?The sifted golden sun comes to us blue?And dying, like the sunshine of a dream.
Exquisite triflers and deceivers rare,
Tender of heart, but little tied by vows,?Deliciously we dally 'neath the boughs,?And playfully the lovers plague the fair.
Receiving, should they overstep a point,
A buffet from a hand absurdly small,?At which upon a gallant knee they fall?To kiss the little finger's littlest joint.
And as this is a shocking liberty,
A frigid glance rewards the daring swain,--?Not quite o'erbalancing with its disdain?The red mouth's reassuring clemency.
LE FAUNE.
An ancient terra-cotta Faun,
A laughing note in 'mid the green,?Grins at us from the central lawn,
With secret and sarcastic mien.
It is that he foresees, perchance,
A bad end to the moments dear?That with gay music and light dance
Have led