Paul Verlaine: It Rains In My Heart Translation Poem by Michael Burch

Il pleure dans mon coeur ('It rains in my heart')
by Paul Verlaine
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

It rains in my heart
As it rains on the town;
Heavy languor and dark
Drenches my heart.

Oh, the sweet-sounding rain
Cleansing pavements and roofs!
For my listless heart's pain
The pure song of the rain!

Still it rains without reason
In my overcast heart.
Can it be there's no treason?
That this grief's without reason?

As my heart floods with pain,
Lacking hatred, or love,
I've no way to explain
Such bewildering pain!

Published by Better Than Starbucks

Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) was a French poet and a prominent figure in the Symbolist and Decadent poetry movements. Verlaine has been called 'one of the most purely lyrical of French poets.' Keywords/Tags: Verlaine, French, translation, Paris, rain, languor, heart, treason, reason, pain, hatred, love, depression, dark, darkness