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I have seen the sunset, stained with mystic horrors,
Illumine the rolling waves with long purple forms,
Like actors in ancient plays.

— Arthur Rimbaud Le Bateau Ivre (The Drunken Boat) (1871)

J'ai vu le soleil bas, taché d'horreurs mystiques,
Illuminant de longs figements violets,
Pareils à des acteurs de drames très-antiques.

Original text (French)

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More quotes by Arthur Rimbaud

Lighter than a cork I danced on the waves.

Le Bateau Ivre (The Drunken Boat) (1871)

Life is the farce we are all forced to endure.

Une Saison en Enfer (A Season in Hell) (1873)

Sweeter than apples to children
The green water spurted through my pine-wood hull.

Le Bateau Ivre (The Drunken Boat) (1871)

Oh my little mistresses,
How I hate you!

Poésies (1871)

I say one must be a seer, make oneself a seer. The poet makes himself a seer by an immense, long, deliberate derangement of all the senses.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Arthur Rimbaud (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.