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

from “Il pleure dans mon coeur” by Paul Verlaine

My heart fades within me

Like the rot on those blooms.

From where comes the caries

That enters my room?

Oh sweet lilac scent

In the driveway and yard;

‘Round a house full of gloom,

How enchanting you are!

Such senseless pain

Within my sick heart.

You have never loved me?

I am grieving for naught.

Can this be endured?

I cannot know

Why, ‘though you neither hate nor harm,

You cause me so much woe.