Sensation -- Arthur Rimbaud

Guest poem submitted by Aditi Balasubramaniam:

(Poem #1524) Sensation Through blue summer nights I will pass along paths, Pricked by wheat, trampling short grass: Dreaming, I will feel coolness underfoot, Will let breezes bathe my bare head. Not a word, not a thought: Boundless love will surge through my soul, And I will wander far away, a vagabond In Nature - as happily as with a woman. -- Arthur Rimbaud

        March 1870
        trans. Wyatt Mason

The poetry of Arthur Rimbaud seems to be conspicuous by its absence in your
anthology. I am submitting 'Sensation' in the original language [see below -
ed.], along with my favourite translation by Wyatt Mason. I love the
simplicity of the poem and its unusual but wonderfully effective adjectives.

More of his poetry can be found at www.mag4.net/poetry/Rimbaud.html and more
on Rimbaud can be found at :
http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/?031117crbo_books

Aditi.

[original poem in French]

 Par les soirs bleus d'été, j'irai dans les sentiers,
 Picoté par les blés, fouler l'herbe menue,
 Rêveur, j'en sentirai la fraîcheur à mes pieds.
 Je laisserai le vent baigner ma tête nue.

 Je ne parlerai pas, je ne penserai rien :
 Mais l'amour infini me montera dans l'âme,
 Et j'irai loin, bien loin, comme un bohémien,
 Par la nature, heureux comme avec une femme.

        -- Arthur Rimbaud