The Enemy Disguises Himself as Boredom

Poem by Paul Verlaine Collection WisdomThemes MiscellaneousPeriod 19th century

The enemy disguises himself as Boredom
And says to me: “What’s the use, poor dupe?”
I pass by and laugh at him.
The enemy disguises himself as the Flesh
And says to me: “Bah, bah, long live a skirt!”
I push aside the bitter counsel.

The enemy transforms himself into an Angel
Of light and says: “What is your effort
Beside the tributes of praise
And Faith owed to the heavenly Father?
Does your Love go unto death?”
I answer: “Hope remains to me.”

As he is the old logician,
He soon reduced me
To no longer wanting to reply anything.
But knowing who he is, terrified
At no longer feeling the worlds shine,
I will pray for humility.

Paul Verlaine

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

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