A Season in Hell
"A Season in Hell" translated by Wang Yipei
In the past, if I remember correctly, my life was a feast, where everyone My heart is all open, and all the wine is overflowing.
One night I let Beauty sit on my knees. ——I felt her bitterness. ——I insulted her.
I took up arms to resist justice.
I fled. O witches, misery, hatred, to you are entrusted my treasures!
I have at last disillusioned the hope of mankind in my spirit. I leap silently over joy like a beast, in order to seize hope by the throat.
I called the executioners in order to bite the butts of their rifles before I died. I call for disaster, to suffocate in sand and blood. Misfortune was my god.
I fell into the mud. I dried myself out in the sinful air. I joke like crazy.
Spring brings me the idiotic smile.
But recently, when I was "out of tune" for the last time, I dreamed of pursuing the key to that ancient feast, where I might work up an appetite.
Kindness is the key. ——This inspiration confirmed my dream.
"You will still be a villain..." cried the devil again, - he put such a beautiful poppy crown on my head. "Use all your appetites, all your selfishness, all your sins to win death."
Ah! I am so rich: - But dear Satan, I beg you not to glare! I know You don't like writers to describe or teach; before a little cowardice occurs, I, the damned man, will tear these abominable pages out of my notebook for you.
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At this time, Rimbaud had become a close friend of Verlaine. The two were inseparable and traveled abroad together. However, the two had a quarrel during the journey, which eventually led to tragedy. Verlaine shot Rimbaud and was imprisoned. Rimbaud, whose arm was injured and bandaged, walked home alone from the hospital in Belgium. In the midst of depression and disappointment, he stayed at home and immersed himself in writing to relieve the melancholy in his heart. "A Season in Hell" was written under this situation. Two months later, this immortal prose poem was announced for publication, and Rimbaud announced his farewell to the poetry world. After that, the 19-year-old poet stopped writing poetry. After wandering around Europe for several years, he spent 12 years in many countries in Asia and Africa, changing various occupations. It was not until 1891 that he returned to China for treatment of a foot tumor. He died after amputation surgery at the age of 37.