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.