The Sky’s Above The Roof….

 Paul Verlaine

The sky’s above the roof 

          So blue, so calm!

A tree above the roof

          Waves its palm.

The bell in the sky you see

          Gently rings.

A bird on the tree you see

          Sadly sings. 

My God, my God, life’s there,

          Simple and sweet.

A peaceful rumbling there,

          The town’s at our feet.

 – What have you done, O you there

          Who endlessly cry,

Say: what have you done there

          With Youth gone by?

Sadness, The Bodily Weariness…

Sadness, the bodily weariness of man,

Have moved me, swayed me, made me pity.

Ah, most when dark slumbers take me,

When sheets score the skin, oppress the hand.

And how weak in tomorrow’s fever

Still warm from the bath that withers

Like a bird on a rooftop that shivers!

And feet, in pain from the road forever,

And the chest, bruised by a double-blow,

And the mouth, still a bleeding wound,

And the trembling flesh, a fragile mound,

And the eyes, poor eyes, so lovely that so

Hint at the sorrow of seeing the end! …

Sad body! So frail, so tormented a friend!