[This one is written from the viewpoint of Verlaine. Rimbaud composed a prose poem that seems to be written in the voice of Verlaine thinking about Rimbaud, “He wants to live life as a sleepwalker” (Deliria I.) Here I have turned that prose poem on its head…with Verlaine thinking about Rimbaud.]
Clarity
He wants to flashflood through his life. In fact
He feels that I should surge beside him on
This journey. I should face him in the act
Of love, but, when the thrill of that is gone,
Somnambulance should be my mode. I ought
To stroll, my shoulder bumping his, through dreams
In waking hours. Our lives should not be fraught
With facts or work. We two should not be streams
That course in separate beds but rivers wide
Enough to spill into each other and be one,
One reverie composed of seas that glide
To unity beneath a drowsy sun.
..Since he will never waken on his own,
….I’ll have to swear my way to his unknown.