shot by Verlaine
Novel
I.
No one's serious at seventeen.
--On beautiful nights when beer and lemonade
And loud, blinding cafes are the last thing you need
--You stroll beneath green lindens on the promenade.
Lindens smell fine on fine June nights!
Sometimes the air is so sweet that you close your eyes;
The wind brings sounds--the town is near--
And carries scents of vineyards and beer...
II.
--Over there, framed by a branch
You can see a little patch of dark blue
Stung by a sinister star that fades
With faint quiverings, so small and white.
June nights! Seventeen!--Drink it in.
Sap is champagne, it goes to your head...
The mind wanders, you feel a kiss
On your lips, quivering like a living thiing...
III.
The wild heart Crusoes through a thousand novels
--And when a young girls walks alluringly
Through a streetlamp's pale light, beneath the ominous shadow
Of her father's starched collar...
Because as she passes by, boot heels tapping,
She turns on a dime, eyes wide,
Finding you too sweet to resist...
--And cavatinas die on your lips.
IV.
You're in love. Off the market till August.
You're in love.--Your sonnets make Her laugh.
Your friends are gone, you're bad news.
--Then, one night, your beloved, writes...!
-Arthur Rimbaud
I.
No one's serious at seventeen.
--On beautiful nights when beer and lemonade
And loud, blinding cafes are the last thing you need
--You stroll beneath green lindens on the promenade.
Lindens smell fine on fine June nights!
Sometimes the air is so sweet that you close your eyes;
The wind brings sounds--the town is near--
And carries scents of vineyards and beer...
II.
--Over there, framed by a branch
You can see a little patch of dark blue
Stung by a sinister star that fades
With faint quiverings, so small and white.
June nights! Seventeen!--Drink it in.
Sap is champagne, it goes to your head...
The mind wanders, you feel a kiss
On your lips, quivering like a living thiing...
III.
The wild heart Crusoes through a thousand novels
--And when a young girls walks alluringly
Through a streetlamp's pale light, beneath the ominous shadow
Of her father's starched collar...
Because as she passes by, boot heels tapping,
She turns on a dime, eyes wide,
Finding you too sweet to resist...
--And cavatinas die on your lips.
IV.
You're in love. Off the market till August.
You're in love.--Your sonnets make Her laugh.
Your friends are gone, you're bad news.
--Then, one night, your beloved, writes...!
-Arthur Rimbaud