Classic and Contemporary Poetry
INSOMNIA, by EDOUARD JOACHIM CORBIERE First Line: Insomnia, impalpable creature / is all your love in your head Last Line: We will sleep together a while. Alternate Author Name(s): Corbiere, Tristan Subject(s): Insomnia; Sleeplessness | ||||||||
Insomnia, impalpable Creature! Is all your love in your head That you come and are ravished to see Beneath your evil eye man gnaw His sheets and twist himself with spleen, Beneath your black diamond eye? Tell me: why, during the sleepless night, Rainy like a Sunday, Do you come to lick us like a dog? Hope or Regret that keeps watch, Why, in our throbbing ear Do you speak low . . . and say nothing? Why to our parched throat Do you always tilt your empty cup And leave us stretching our neck, Tantaluses, thirsters for chimeras- Amorous philter or bitter dregs, Cool dew or melted lead! Insomnia, aren't you beautiful? . . . Well, why, lascivious virgin, Do you squeeze us between your knees? Why do you moan on our lips, Why do you unmake our bed, And . . . not go to bed with us? Why, impure night-blooming beauty, That black mask on your face? . . . To fill the golden dreams with intrigue? . . . Aren't you love in space, The breath of Messaline weary But still not satisfied? Insomnia, are you Hysteria? . . . Are you the barrel organ Which grinds out the hosanna of the elect? . . . Or aren't you the eternal plectrum On the nerves of the damned-of-letters Scraping out their verses-which only they have read? Insomnia, are you the troubled donkey Of Buridan-or the firefly Of hell? -Your kiss of fire Leaves a chilled taste of red-hot iron . . . Oh, come perch in my hovel! . . . We will sleep together a while. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GROOM FALCONER; CIRCA 1903 by NORMAN DUBIE THE DEATH OF THE RACE CAR DRIVER by NORMAN DUBIE JOURNEY TOWARD EVENING by PHYLLIS MCGINLEY THE STARS THEIR PERFECTION by DONALD REVELL AFTER THE RAIN by EDOUARD JOACHIM CORBIERE |
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