Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONG OF AUTUMN by PAUL VERLAINE

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: WHEN A SIGHING BEGINS
Last Line: A DEAD LEAF.
Subject(s): DEATH; GRIEF; MEMORY; DEAD, THE; SORROW; SADNESS;
WHEN a sighing begins
In the violins
Of the autumn-song,

My heart is drowned
In the slow sound
Languorous and long.

Pale as with pain,
Breath fails me when
The hour tolls deep.
My thoughts recover
The days that are over,
And I weep.

And I go
Where the winds know,
Broken and brief,
To and fro,
As the winds blow
A dead leaf.



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