Paul VERLAINE – Signed autograph poem – “The horrible sleepless night…”

Paul Verlaine (1844.1896)

Signed autograph poem.

One octavo page. Scattered foxing.

No place. August 17, 1891.

A very beautiful poem of eighteen lines, corrected in three places, constituting number X of the collection Chansons pour Elle , published in 1891 by Léon Vanier and inspired by the poet's liaisons with Eugénie Krantz and/or Philomène Boudin.

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Songs for Her

X

The horrible sleepless night!

— Without the blessed presence

Of your dear body near me,

Without your mouth so fucked

Although too cunning

In all bad faith,

Without your mouth all lies,

But so frank when I think about it,

And who knows how to console me

In appearance and in species

Of a strawberry — and, good piece! —

In a very plausible way,

And especially without the pantacle

Of your senses and the miracle

Many are one, flower and fruit,

From your hard witch eyes,

Hard and soft in your own way...

Good God! What a terrible night!

August 17, 91.

Paul Verlaine

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Songs for Her is Paul Verlaine's tenth collection of poetry. Written probably just before its publication on December 26, 1891, by Léon Vanier, around ten poems were pre-published in magazines between March and October of the same year.