Dark and Wrinkled

(Michael Webster - Arthur Rimbaud)

from "Mainland" the forthcoming CD by Joe Moe
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a setting of a poem by Arthur Rimbaud with facing English translation
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Joe Moe sings the English, countertenor Dylan Hostetter sings the French

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Dark and Wrinkled like a deep pink flower
it breathes humbly nestled in the moss

In my dreams my mouth
was often placed upon its opening
my soul jealous of the physical coitus
made of it its fawny tear bottle
and its nest of sobs

Dark and wrinkled still wet with love
that follows the gentle descent of white buttock
to the border of its edge

In my dreams my mouth
was often placed upon its opening
my soul jealous of the physical coitus
made of it its fawny tear bottle
and its nest of sobs

Filaments like tears of milk have wept
under the cruel wind pushing them back
over small clots of reddish marl
and then lose themselves where the slope calls them

It is the fainting olive and the cajoling flute
the tube from which descends the celestial praline
a feminine Canaan, enclosed in moisture
Obscur et froncé comme un œillet violet
Il respire, humblement tapi parmi la mousse

Mon Rêve s’aboucha
souvent à sa ventouse ;
Mon âme, du coït matériel jalouse,
En fit son larmier fauve
et son nid de sanglots.

Obscur et froncé Humide encor d’amour
qui suit la fuite douce des fesses blanches
jusqu’au bord de son ourlet.

Mon Rêve s’aboucha
souvent à sa ventouse ;
Mon âme, du coït matériel jalouse,
En fit son larmier fauve
et son nid de sanglots.

Des filaments pareils à des larmes de lait
Ont pleuré, sous le vent cruel qui les repousse,
À travers de petits caillots de marne rousse


C’est l’olive pâmée, et la flûte caline ;
C’est le tube où descend la céleste praline :
Chanaan féminin dans les moiteurs enclos !