Love
And Wherefore Should I Lay My Heartwounds Bare?
Translated by Gertrude Hall (1895) · From Romances sans paroles (1874)
And wherefore should I lay my heart-wounds bare?
You love me not,--an end there, lady mine;
And as I do not choose that one shall dare
To pity,--I must suffer without sign.
Yes, suffer! For I loved you well, did I,--
But like a loyal soldier will I stand
Till, hurt to death, he staggers off to die,
Still filled with love for an ungrateful land.
O you that were my Beauty and my Own,
Although from you derive all my mischance,
Are not you still my Home, then, you alone,
As young and mad and beautiful as France?
Codex Note
Birds in the Night, part III
Cite this poem
MLA
Verlaine, Paul. “And Wherefore Should I Lay My Heartwounds Bare?” Translated by Gertrude Hall. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/verlaine/22/.
Chicago
Verlaine, Paul. “And Wherefore Should I Lay My Heartwounds Bare?” Translated by Gertrude Hall. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/verlaine/22/.
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