SENSATION by Arthur Rimbaud

Sensation

On the blue summer evenings, I shall go down the paths,
Getting pricked by the corn, crushing the short grass:
In a dream I shall feel its coolness on my feet.
I shall let the wind bathe my bare head.

I shall not speak, I shall think about nothing:
But endless love will mount in my soul;
And I shall travel far, very far, like a gypsy,
Through the countryside - as happy as if I were with a woman.

Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891)

This translation is direct from the original French text.

Consider the alternate version below:

SENSATION

On summer evenings blue, pricked by the wheat

On rustic paths the thin grass I shall tread,

And feel its freshness underneath my feet,

And dreaming, let the wind bathe my bare head.

I shall not speak, nor think, but walking slow

Through nature, I shall rove with love my guide,

As gypsies wander, where, they do not know,

happy as one walks by a woman's side. 

(Translation: Jethro Bithel)

This second translation represents the effect of reading this small, rhymed poem in its original French form.

Consider the rhyming scheme in the French text below:

Par les soirs bleus d'été, j'irai dans les sentiers,
Picoté par les blés, fouler l'herbe menue :
Réveur, j'en sentirai la fraîcheur mes pieds.
Je laisserai le vent baigner ma tète nue ! 

Je ne parlerai pas, je ne penserai rien :
Mais l'amour infïni me montera dans l'âme,
Et j'irai loin, bien loin, comme un bohémien
Par la Nature, -- heureux comme avec une femme.

ABAB ABAB

The brilliance of this poem lies in its apparent simplicity of form and language.   Yet this poem is an excellent example of a concealed mastery of the poetic tongue.     Rimbaud makes what is very hard to compose: the "perfect" poem, seem like easy business.

John Lars Zwerenz