Arthur Rimbaud: Eternity

early morning sun by the sea

Eternity

L'Éternité

1 ( From: Fetes de la Patience)

It’s found we see.

                        

What? – Eternity.

It’s the sun, free

To flow with the sea.

Soul on watch

Let whispers confess

Of the empty night

Of the day’s excess.

From the mortal weal

From the common urge

Here you diverge

To fly as you feel.

Since from you alone,

Embers of satin,

Duty breathes down

With no ‘at last’ spoken.

There’s nothing of hope,

No entreaty here.

Science and patience,

Torture is real.

It’s found we see.

What? – Eternity.

It’s the sun, free

To flow with the sea.

2. (From: Une Saison en Enfer)

It’s found we see!

What? – Eternity.

It’s the sun, mingled

   With the sea.

My immortal soul

Keep your vow

Despite empty night

And the day’s glow.

So you’ll diverge

From the mortal weal

From the common urge,

And fly as you feel…

– No hope, never,

No entreaty here.

Science and patience,

Torture is real.

No more tomorrow,

Embers of satin,

Your own ardour

The only duty.

It’s found we see.

– What? – Eternity.

It’s the sun, mingled

    With the sea.

 

Arthur Rimbaud

1854-1891

photo Moesgård: gb

ANNABEL LEE

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE.
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me -
Yes! - that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling -my darling - my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Edgar Allan Poe 
1809-49


photo the North Sea: gb