Good Masked Knight Who Rides in Silence, Poem by Paul Verlaine

Good masked knight who rides in silence,
Misfortune has pierced my old heart with his lance.

The blood of my old heart made but one crimson jet,
Then evaporated on the flowers, in the sun.

Shadow extinguished my eyes, a cry came to my mouth
And my old heart died in a savage shudder.

Then the knight Misfortune drew near,
He dismounted and his hand touched me.

His iron-gloved finger entered my wound
While he attested his law in a hard voice.

And behold, at the icy contact of the iron finger
A heart was reborn in me, a whole heart pure and proud

And behold, fervent with a divine candor,
A whole heart young and good beat in my breast!

Yet I remained trembling, drunk, a little incredulous,
Like a man who sees visions of God.

But the good knight, remounted on his beast,
As he rode away, made me a sign with his head

And cried to me (I still hear that voice):
“At least, be prudent! For it’s good for once.”

Paul Verlaine

Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.

Text published on Poésies 123: https://www.poesies123.com/en/poem-good-masked-knight-who-rides-in-silence-paul-verlaine/