Leurs jambes pour toutes montures, Pour tous biens l'or de leurs regards, Par le chemin des aventures Ils vont haillonneux et hagards. Le sage, indigné, les harangue ; Le sot plaint ces fous hasardeux ; Les enfants leur tirent la langue Et les filles se moquent d'eux. C'est qu'odieux et ridicules, Et maléfiques en effet, Ils ont l'air, sur les crépuscules, D'un mauvais rêve que l'on fait ; C'est que, sur leurs aigres guitares Crispant la main des libertés, Ils nasillent des chants bizarres, Nostalgiques et révoltés ; C'est enfin que dans leurs prunelles Rit et pleure — fastidieux — L'amour des choses éternelles, Des vieux morts et des anciens dieux ! — Donc, allez, vagabonds sans trêves, Errez, funestes et maudits, Le long des gouffres et des grèves, Sous l'œil fermé des paradis ! La nature à l'homme s'allie Pour châtier comme il le faut L'orgueilleuse mélancolie Qui vous fait marcher le front haut, Et, vengeant sur vous le blasphème Des vastes espoirs véhéments, Meurtrit votre front anathème Au choc rude des éléments. Les juins brûlent et les décembres Gèlent votre chair jusqu'aux os, Et la fièvre envahit vos membres Qui se déchirent aux roseaux. Tout vous repousse et tout vous navre, Et quand la mort viendra pour vous, Maigre et froide, votre cadavre Sera dédaigné par les loups !
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Paul Verlaine, Poëmes saturniens, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1866, pages 40-43.
Authorship:
- by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Grotesques", appears in Poèmes saturniens, in 2. Eaux-fortes, no. 5, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1866 [author's text checked 2 times 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):
- by Mathieu Crickboom (1871 - 1947), "Les Grotesques", op. 12 (Dix Mélodies pour chant et piano) no. 10 (1908) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Bergen Weeks Applegate) , "Grotesques", appears in Poems Saturnine, in 2. Etchings, no. 5
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2009-01-05
Line count: 40
Word count: 221
Their legs serve for horses, For all gifts the gold of their eyes, By the road of adventures They go, torn and despised. The wise, indignant, harangue them; Fools rail at their hazardous way; The children put out their tongues And the girls mock them all day. They are the ridiculous; Odious and malignant they seem. They have in the twilight The air of a bad dream. On their bitter guitars These libertines strike the shrill string; Intoning the chants bizarre, Nostalgic and revolting. And at last in their eyes Laughs and weeps, or fastidiously nods, The love of things eternal — The old dead and the ancient gods! Go then, old vagabonds! Wander, noxious creatures of old vice, Along abyss and strand Shut out from paradise! For nature joins with man To punish rightly by and by, The melancholy pride that makes You march with forehead high. Venging on you the blasphemy Of vast hopes and violent intents; Bruising your foreheads curst With the rude elements. June burns, and December Freezes your flesh where the bones show through. The fever possesses your limbs Wracked and covered with dew. Wounded and repulsed by all, When death shall seek you out in turn, Meager and cold, your carcasses Even the wolves will spurn!
Confirmed with Bergen Applegate, Paul Verlaine: His Absinthe-Tinted Song, Chicago, Ralph Fletcher Seymour, The Alderbrink Press, 1916, pages 51-53.
Authorship:
- by Bergen Weeks Applegate (b. 1865), "Grotesques", appears in Poems Saturnine, in 2. Etchings, no. 5 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Grotesques", appears in Poèmes saturniens, in 2. Eaux-fortes, no. 5, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1866
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 ]
Researcher for this page: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2022-03-10
Line count: 40
Word count: 212