Éclats de Neige
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
“éclats de neige”~ Arthur Rimbaud, Illuminations
Paul often thought a boy has splinters in
His eyes, his irises, his pupils, light
Shards signalling necessity to sin,
Or love, or both. A failure to cause fright
And damage means there’s something, crippled, wrong.
Such shards more cold than ice should cause harsh cuts.
The splinters often cause a frigid throng
Of lacerations, worse, slashing of guts.
Forget the ribs and heart. The slivers made from ice
Of passion, hard and steeply Arctic, ought
To bring on injury. The wounds from slice
And stab fetch traumas deeper than love’s thought.
..Antarctic even glow the boy’s bad fires,
….Immensely cold. These light the man’s desires.
“ ‘Snowflakes, literally transcribed, produced “éclats de neige” (splinters, sparkles or shouts of snow).’” ~ Graham Robb, Rimbaud, 258