RIMBAUD ON JAVA

rimbaud on java

what means a word compared to

what happens between heaven and earth (jürgen ploog)

forget paris

                        pupils shine

towards inside

skin burns

towards inside

hair stings    

to be ablaze

frees himself with maniac

thunderstorms of sound

farewell mother away from charleville

arrested in vienna deported to italy

in hamburg he falls into the claws of

dutch fishers of men

one must enslave the stars

and off to java as foreign legionnaire

the island in the scent of fever

as soon as landed he throws away

all abominations uniform and musket

sink into the swamp behind the barrack

he disappears into the jungle

of silent villages and rice terraces

smokes kretek tobacco in the shadow of the sky

circle children and buffalos

he with the women listens

to the hammering and croaking

a cheerful intermezzo

on the way to

charleville

later escape on a drunken ship

at the cape of good hope he jumps

into whirling water without a word

swimming he looks for the

unkown