A very beautiful poem of eighteen lines, corrected in three places, constituting No. X of the collection Chansons pour Elle , published in 1891 by Léon Vanier and inspired by the poet's relationships with Eugénie Krantz and/or Philomène Boudin.
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Paul Verlaine (1844.1896)
Signed autograph poem.
One page in-8°. Scattered foxing.
No place. August 17, 1891.
A very beautiful poem of eighteen lines, corrected in three places, constituting No. X of the collection Chansons pour Elle , published in 1891 by Léon Vanier and inspired by the poet's relationships with Eugénie Krantz and/or Philomène Boudin.
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Songs for Her
X
The horrible night of insomnia!
— Without the blessed presence
From your dear body beside me,
Without your mouth, so often kissed
Although too cunning
In complete bad faith,
Without your mouth, there are no lies
But so frank when I think about it,
And who knows, maybe I can be comforted
In appearance and in kind
From a strawberry — and, good piece! —
In a very plausible way,
And especially without the pentacle
Of your senses and the miracle
Multiple is one, flower and fruit,
From your hard, witchy eyes,
Tough and soft, in your own way…
Good God! What a terrible night!
August 17, 1991.
Paul Verlaine
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Chansons pour Elle is Paul Verlaine's tenth collection of poetry. Probably written just before its publication on December 26, 1891 by Léon Vanier, about ten poems were pre-published in magazines between March and October of the same year.