Mad Song (3)

Poem by Emile Verhaeren Period 19th century

Break their paws and vertebrae,
Chase the rats, the rats.
And then pour out the black wheat,
At evening,
Into the shadows.

Long ago, when my heart broke,
A woman picked it up
To give it to the rats.

– Break their paws and vertebrae.

Often I’ve seen them in the hearth,
Ink stains among the plaster,
Nibbling away at my death.

– Break their paws and vertebrae.

One of them, I felt it
Crawl upon me in the night,
And bite again the bottom of the hole
That was made, in my chest,
By the tearing out of my mad heart.

– Break their paws and vertebrae.

My head, the winds pass through it,
The winds that pass beneath the door,
And the black rats from top to bottom
People my dead head.

– Break their paws and vertebrae.

For no one knows anything anymore.
And what do evil and good matter,
The rats, the rats are there, in heaps,
Tell me, will you pour, this evening,
The black wheat,
With both hands, into the shadows?

Emile Verhaeren

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-mad-song-3-emile-verhaeren/