The Scent of Sandalwood... ­


IntroductionRelationsReferencesSecretsDepth
NotablesAnalysisImageryRandomnessSite

Paul Verlaine

A French poet, Paul Verlaine was associated with the Symbolist movement, which was a movement against Realism and Naturalism in art. His full name being Paul-Marie Verlaine was born March 30, 1844. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the end of the century, or in English terms turn of the century, in international and French poetry. Verlaine died at the age of fifty-one on January 8, 1896.

Verlaine seems to be a favorite of both Kaoru and Rei. They both have a tendency to read his works and will lightly quote them. It seems fitting to an extent since he participated in movements to change what he found restrictive.

Tears Fall In My Heart

Tears Fall In My Heart is a poem vaguely quoted in the show. The following is first a French translation and the second is in English:



Il Pleure Dans Mon Coeur

Il pleure dans mon coeur
Comme il pleut sur la ville;
Quelle est cette langueur
Qui pénètre mon coeur?

O bruit doux de la pluie
Par terre et sur les toits!
Pour un coeur qui s'ennuie,
le chant de la pluie!

Il pleure sans raison
Dans ce coeur qui s'écoeure.
Quoi? Nulle trahison?
Ce deuil est sans raison.

C'est bien la pire peine
De ne savoir pourquoi
Sans amour et sans haine
Mon coeur a tant de peine!


Tears Fall In My Heart

Like city's rain, my heart
Rains teardrops too. What now,
This languorous ache, this smart
That pierces, wounds my heart?

Gentle, the sound of rain
Pattering roof and ground!
Ah, for the heart in pain,
Sweet is the sound of rain!

Tears rain-but who knows why?-
And fill my heartsick heart.
No faithless lover's lie? ...
It mourns, and who knows why?

And nothing pains me so--
With neither love nor hate--
A simply not to know
Why my heart suffers so.




Sources:
Wikipedia.org: Paul Verlaine
Paul Verlaine. One Hundred and One Poems. Translation by Norman R. Shapiro. The University of Chicago Press. 1999.



Main Page
References