Notes on Rimbaudian Muse
I ought to have a special hell for my anger,
a hell for my pride - and a hell for sex;
a whole symphony of hells!
I am weary, I die.
This is the grave and I am turning into worms, horror of horrors!
Satan, you clown, you want to dissolve me with your charms.
Well, I want it. I want it!
Stab me with a pitchfork, sprinkle me with fire!
Ah! To return to life!
To stare at our deformities.
And this poison, this eternally accursed embrace!
My weakness, and the world's cruelty!
My God have pity, hide me, I can't control myself at all!
I am hidden, and I am not.
And as the Damned soul rises, so does the fire.
Arthur Rimbaud, A Season In Hell (trans. Paul Schmidt)