The Cheated Heart
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My poor heart dribbles at the stern
My heart covered with caporal
They squirt upon it jets of soup
My poor heart dribbles at the stern
Under the gibes of the whole crew
Which burst out in a single laugh,
My poor heart dribbles at the stern
My heart covered with caporal.
Ithypallic, erkish, lewd,
Their gibes have corrupted it.
In the wheelhouse you can see graffiti*
Ithypallic, erkish, lewd.
O abracadantic waves
Take my heart that it may be cleansed!
Ithypallic, erkish, lewd,
Their gibes have corrupted it.
When they have finished chewing their quids
What shall we do, o cheated heart?
It will be bacchic hiccups then
When they have finished chewing their quids
I shall have stomach heavings then
I can swallow down my heart:
When they have finished chewing their quids
What shall we do, o cheated heart?
May 1871.
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- *Frescos in the original text.
- Text of the copy of Verlaine.
- 2 later different versions exist: in the letter to Izambard, May 13, 1871 and in the letter to Demeny, June 10, 1871 (respectively "The Tortured Heart" and "The Heart of the Clown")
- As translated by Oliver Bernard: Arthur Rimbaud, Collected Poems (1962).
