Revenez, Revenez, Chers Amis

Revenez, Revenez, Chers Amis

Come back to us, Verlaine, Rimbaud!  We need
You at this hour.  We need you so that you
Can edify us, show us not to breed
False freedoms.  None of us wants Xanadu
Heaved up by license, anger or your faux
Amour.
  We do not want your paradise
That’s built like Pandemonium aglow
With desperation in damned demons’ eyes.
We may be angels, anges, or not.  We may
Be devils.  This we know:  we’re women, men,
And nothing more so far as we can say.
Oh! come, you two poor fiends and friends, again.
..Revenez, mes chers amis.  Your stain
….Is not enough to save us from our pain.