Madman's Song (2), Poem by Emile Verhaeren

I have seen them, I have seen them,
They passed along the paths,
With their eyes, like slits,
And their beards, like hemp.

Two arms of straw,
A back of hay,
Wounded, pierced, disjointed,
They came from afar,
As from a battle.

A soft hat over their ear,
A coat green as sorrel;
They were two, they were three,
I saw ten of them, coming back from the woods.

One of them took my soul
And my soul like a bell
Vibrates in his pocket.

The other took my skin
– Do not tell anyone –
My skin of an old drum
That rings.

A peasant came upon us
Who stuck us into the bare ground,
All of them and me, old cast-offs,
At whom children mock.

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-madmans-song-2-emile-verhaeren/