The din of the cabarets, the filth on the pavement

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by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)

Translation © by Laura Prichard

Le bruit des cabarets, la fange des...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Le bruit des cabarets, la fange des trottoirs,
Les platanes déchus s'effeuillant dans l'air noir,
L'omnibus, ouragan de ferraille et de boues,
Qui grince, mal assis entre ses quatre roues,
Et roule ses yeux verts et rouges lentement,
Les ouvriers allant au club, tout en fumant
Leur brûle-gueule au nez des agents de police,
Toits qui dégouttent, murs suintants, pavé qui glisse,
Bitume défoncé, ruisseaux comblant l'égout,
Voilà ma route -- avec le paradis au bout.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), no title, appears in La bonne chanson, no. 16, first published 1870 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

[ None yet in the database ]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Laura Prichard) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-01-04
Line count: 10
Word count: 75

The din of the cabarets, the filth on...

Language: English after the French (Français)

The din of the cabarets, the filth on the pavement,
Ruined plane trees shedding leaves into the inky black air:
The horse-drawn bus, an hurricane of scrap iron and mud,
Which squeaks, poorly seated on the chassis between its wheels,
And slowly rolls its green and red eyes,
Laborers headed to the club, all smoking
Their little pipes under the noses of the police officers,
Dripping roofs, oozing walls, slick paving stones,
Broken asphalt, streams swelling the sewers,
Behold, my way home – with paradise at the end.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Laura Prichard, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), no title, appears in La bonne chanson, no. 16, first published 1870
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2023-09-01
Line count: 10
Word count: 88