The Sages of old time, well worth our own,
Believed-and it has been disproved by none-
That destinies in Heaven written are,
And every soul depends upon a star.
(Many have mocked, without remembering
That laughter oft is a misguiding thing,
This explanation of night's mystery.)
Now all that born beneath Saturnus be,-
Red planet, to the necromancer dear,-
Inherit, ancient magic-books make clear,
Good share of spleen, good share of wretchedness.
Imagination, wakeful, vigorless,
In them makes the resolves of reason vain.
The blood within them, subtle as a bane,
Burning as lava, scarce, flows ever fraught
With sad ideals that ever come to naught.
Such must Saturnians suffer, such must die,-
If so that death destruction doth imply,-
Their lives being ordered in this dismal sense
By logic of a malign Influence.
Poemes Saturniens Prologue
Paul Verlaine
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Poem topics: death, heaven, laughter, magic, night, red, sad, star, time, dear, soul, sense, clear, mystery, ancient, reason, beneath, worth, good, share, Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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