In Despondent Mood

In Despondent Mood

“in despondent mood”
~ Verlaine, “Birds in the Night,” Romances Sans Paroles

The Anglo-Saxons said that life was bleak
As one bird flying in a stormy night
Which enters through a window like a streak
And out the other window of the bright
Hall filled with men carousing with their mead.
The bird goes in a flash through merriment
And then is seen no more.  This was their creed.
Verlaine was meant to be a malcontent.
Depression was his milieu.  He would do
Anything to feed his melancholy,
Drink absinthe till his valentine was blue.
Verlaine was Holy Sadness’ devotee.
..God’s malice supplied a ferry ticket
….And Rimbaud rammed up Paul’s wretched thicket.