Thursday, April 5, 2018

Depression 2018


Il pleure dans mon cœur
Comme il pleut sur la ville ;
Quelle est cette langueur
Qui pénètre mon cœur ?

            --Paul Verlaine 1844-1896


In my translations, I find the poet connecting the rain over the city to the gloom he feels in his soul and wondering what it is, where it comes from, and why. He links the spirit of his body with the spirit of the polis.  The personal soul and the public soul.

It rains in my heart
As it rains o’er the town
What is this melancholy
That pierces my heart

Clouds over the city
Mirror the gloom in my soul.
Whence comes this self-pity,
That infects humanity whole.

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