Romance Novel

I

You?re never serious at 17.
One great night, full of pints and lemonade,
You?ve had enough of caf‚s, so you stroll
Beneath green lime trees on the promenade.

The lime trees smell so good at night in June!
Sometimes the air?s so mild you have to blink.
The wind from off the town is charged with noise
And smells of grape, of ale and stronger drink . . .


II

Look there, you see a tiny handkerchief
Of dark blue, framed by branches in the night,
Pierced by a hapless star which melts away
With one soft shudder, beautifully white . . .

You?re 17! In June! It gets you high "
The sap?s champagne: it makes your whole head ring . . .
You ramble " suddenly you feel a kiss
That flutters on your lips like a live thing . . .


III

Below the halo of a pale street lamp,
Your heart creates a novel, going mad
Because a young miss stopped to sneak a glance
Beneath the menacing shadow of her dad . . .

And just because she thinks you?re such a child,
She trots on by and swings her little hips
And gives a shrug that slugs you in the gut,
While cavatinas die upon your lips . . .


IV

Now you?re in love " till August anyway.
You?ll make her laugh! You?ll write her poetry!
But still you?re shunned as if you tasted bad
Until, one night, the dear one writes to thee!

That night you wander back to the caf‚s.
You order up more pints and lemonade . . .
You?re never serious at 17
When limes grow green above the promenade.

---
Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), 1870
translated by George J. Dance, 2009
from Doggerel, and other doggerel, 2015

for Rimbaud's original in French, read blog: https://gdancesbetty.blogspot.com/2010/03/romance-novel-roman-arthur-rimbaud.html
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George J. Dance wrote:
Romance Novel

I

You?re never serious at 17.
One great night, full of pints and lemonade,
You?ve had enough of caf‚s, so you stroll
Beneath green lime trees on the promenade.

The lime trees smell so good at night in June!
Sometimes the air?s so mild you have to blink.
The wind from off the town is charged with noise
And smells of grape, of ale and stronger drink . . .

II

Look there, you see a tiny handkerchief
Of dark blue, framed by branches in the night,
Pierced by a hapless star which melts away
With one soft shudder, beautifully white . . .

You?re 17! In June! It gets you high "
The sap?s champagne: it makes your whole head ring . . .
You ramble " suddenly you feel a kiss
That flutters on your lips like a live thing . . .

III

Below the halo of a pale street lamp,
Your heart creates a novel, going mad
Because a young miss stopped to sneak a glance
Beneath the menacing shadow of her dad . . .

And just because she thinks you?re such a child,
She trots on by and swings her little hips
And gives a shrug that slugs you in the gut,
While cavatinas die upon your lips . . .

IV

Now you?re in love " till August anyway.
You?ll make her laugh! You?ll write her poetry!
But still you?re shunned as if you tasted bad
Until, one night, the dear one writes to thee!

That night you wander back to the caf‚s.
You order up more pints and lemonade . . .
You?re never serious at 17
When limes grow green above the promenade.

---
Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), 1870
translated by George J. Dance, 2009
from Doggerel, and other doggerel, 2015

for Rimbaud's original in French, read blog: https://gdancesbetty.blogspot.com/2010/03/romance-novel-roman-arthur-rimbaud.html

Two new poets were added to PPB's Canon this month.

"Alderstrop" by Edward Thomas was the Featured Poem for June 2026: https://gdancesbetty.blogspot.com/2015/06/adlestrop-edward-thomas.html

But that was by no means a sure thing. For the last couple of months,
I was wavering between "Alderstrop" and
"Romance Novel," my translation of Arthur Rimbaud's "Roman" - and up
until May the Rimbaud poem had the edge. In that month, though, I
reread a few of the Featured Poems in the canon, and I noticed that the
June 2021 poem -- "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" -- actually
namechecked May. So I decided to make it May 2021's Featured Poem
instead, and after a bit of work, that was done.

However, we now needed a new June 2021 Featured Poem; and "Roman"
(which I'd blogged back in 2010) was the obvious selection. So on
it went as well. The one problem with that was that it would not
be promoted, which I'm solving with this thread.

Rimbaud's original, as well as "Romance Novel," can be read on
the blog at: https://gdancesbetty.blogspot.com/2010/03/romance-novel-roman-arthur-rimbaud.html


This response appears in the discussion at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=706041879#706041879

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