Verlaine's Young Wife Boards A Train
Paul cupped my face in his hands
and swore he wouldn't let his life
be controlled by a boy.
I blushed. He stammered.
He promised to meet
Mama and me at the station.
If he wasn't there, leave
and he would quickly follow.
You won't stay behind?
I asked. You swear?
“Yes, yes,”
and he kissed me over and over.
The thought of that grubby boy Arthur
with his filthy pipe
disgusted me. Paul
must have been feeble
from drink and illness
to have given in
to such
but I couldn't think of it
any more. That was a country
whose borders
Paul would never cross again.
Soon my life as a young wife
would be mine
once more
but as Mama and I boarded the train,
with Paul nowhere in sight,
my stomach tumbled.
Mama squeezed my hand:
"He'll come later."
Verlaine's Young Wife Boards A Train
Re: Verlaine's Young Wife Boards A Train
You have a way of telling these stories with just the right amount of detail and with the perfect emphasis.
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Re: Verlaine's Young Wife Boards A Train
Thanks, Billy....it's good to know the piece works...you're an honest reviewer...so your thoughts count a lot....best
Re: Verlaine's Young Wife Boards A Train
Bob, as usual a well told and interesting story. I especially like how the title isn’t explained until the final stanza.
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Re: Verlaine's Young Wife Boards A Train
Billy, Dale -- many thanks...glad you enjoyed it...Rimbaud and Verlaine's story is so compelling, and this is just one small bit of it
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Re: Verlaine's Young Wife Boards A Train
Hi Bob,
"I blushed. He stammered."
^^ Thanks for dramatizing the when one finds the complementary lines have been complexed to a triangle.
Workshop consider as:
The face of that grubby boy Arthur
with his filthy pipe
disgusted me.
and as:
but as Mama and I boarded the train,
with my husband derailed
again nowhere in sight,
my stomach tumbled.
Mama squeezed my hand:
Michael (MV)
"I blushed. He stammered."
^^ Thanks for dramatizing the when one finds the complementary lines have been complexed to a triangle.
Workshop consider as:
The face of that grubby boy Arthur
with his filthy pipe
disgusted me.
and as:
but as Mama and I boarded the train,
with my husband derailed
again nowhere in sight,
my stomach tumbled.
Mama squeezed my hand:
Michael (MV)
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- Posts: 2692
- Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03
Re: Verlaine's Young Wife Boards A Train
Thanks, Michael, for the ideas...I'll consider them