Colloque Sentimentale - Paul Verlaine

In the old park, frozen and bare,
Two forms but now have wandered there.

Their eyes are dead and their lips are cold,
And scarce may the words they speak be told.

In the old park, bare and frozen fast,
Two spectres have called back the past.

"Dost thou remember our former bliss?"
"How should I remember aught of this?"

"Does thy heart still beat when my name they say?
Dost thou still in thy dreams behold me?" — "Nay."

"Ah the bliss untold that we used to know,
When lip touched lip." — "Perchance 'twas so."

"Oh the sky was blue and hope was high."
"Hope has fled vanquished to the black sky."

Thus through barren fields they wandered on.
And their words were heard by the night alone.

---

Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896) France
Translated by Lois Saunders
Source: Strangers and foreigners being translations from the French, Italian, German and Middle High German: done into English verse, Lois Saunders, Elkin Mathews, 1912