There’s a race of men that don’t fit in,A race that can’t stay still;So they break the hearts of kith and kin,And they roam the world at will.They range the field and they rove the flood,And they climb the mountain’s crest;Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,And they don’t know how to rest. If […]

O Tavern of the Golden Snail!Ten sous have I, so I’ll regale;Ten sous your amber brew to sip(Eight for the bock and two the tip),And so I’ll sit the evening long,And smoke my pipe and watch the throng,The giddy crowd that drains and drinks,I’ll watch it quiet as a sphinx;And who among them all shall […]

We couldn’t sit and study for the law;The stagnation of a bank we couldn’t stand;For our riot blood was surging, and we didn’t need much urgingTo excitements and excesses that are banned.So we took to wine and drink and other things,And the devil in us struggled to be free;Till our friends rose up in wrath, […]

You’ve heard of Julot the apache, and Gigolette, his mome. . . .Montmartre was their hunting-ground, but Belville was their home.A little chap just like a boy, with smudgy black mustache,–Yet there was nothing juvenile in Julot the apache.From head to heel as tough as steel, as nimble as a cat,With every trick of twist […]

An angel was tired of heaven, as he lounged in the golden street;His halo was tilted sideways, and his harp lay mute at his feet;So the Master stooped in His pity, and gave him a pass to go,For the space of a moon, to the earth-world, to mix with the men below. He doffed his […]

Here is my Garret up five flights of stairs;Here’s where I deal in dreams and ply in fancies,Here is the wonder-shop of all my wares,My sounding sonnets and my red romances.Here’s where I challenge Fate and ring my rhymes,And grope at glory–aye, and starve at times. Here is my Stronghold: stout of heart am I,Greeting […]

A pistol shot rings round and round the world;In pitiful defeat a warrior lies.A last defiance to dark Death is hurled,A last wild challenge shocks the sunlit skies.Alone he falls, with wide, wan, woeful eyes:Eyes that could smile at death — could not face shame. Alone, alone he paced his narrow room,In the bright sunshine […]

Alas! upon some starry height,The Gods of Excellence to please,This hand of mine will never smiteThe Harp of High Serenities.Mere minstrel of the street am I,To whom a careless coin you fling;But who, beneath the bitter sky,Blue-lipped, yet insolent of eye,Can shrill a song of Spring;A song of merry mansard days,The cheery chimney-tops among;Of rolics […]

There was a woman, and she was wise; woefully wise was she;She was old, so old, yet her years all told were but a score and three;And she knew by heart, from finish to start, the Book of Iniquity. There is no hope for such as I on earth, nor yet in Heaven;Unloved I live, […]

A child saw in the morning skiesThe dissipated-looking moon,And opened wide her big blue eyes,And cried: “Look, look, my lost balloon!”And clapped her rosy hands with glee:“Quick, mother! Bring it back to me.” A poet in a lilied pondEspied the moon’s reflected charms,And ravished by that beauty blonde,Leapt out to clasp her in his arms.And […]

Heigh ho! to sleep I vainly try;Since twelve I haven’t closed an eye,And now it’s three, and as I lie,From Notre Dame to St. DenisThe bells of Paris chime to me;“You’re young,” they say, “and strong and free.” I do not turn with sighs and groansTo ease my limbs, to rest my bones,As if my […]

Say! You’ve struck a heap of trouble —Bust in business, lost your wife;No one cares a cent about you,You don’t care a cent for life;Hard luck has of hope bereft you,Health is failing, wish you’d die —Why, you’ve still the sunshine left youAnd the big, blue sky. Sky so blue it makes you wonderIf it’s […]

Zut! it’s two o’clock.See! the lights are jumping.Finish up your bock,Time we all were humping.Waiters stack the chairs,Pile them on the tables;Let us to our lairsUnderneath the gables. Up the old Boul’ Mich’Climb with steps erratic.Steady . . . how I wishI was in my attic!Full am I with cheer;In my heart the joy stirs;Couldn’t […]

Lone amid the cafe’s cheer,Sad of heart am I to-night;Dolefully I drink my beer,But no single line I write.There’s the wretched rent to pay,Yet I glower at pen and ink:Oh, inspire me, Muse, I pray,It is later than you think! Hello! there’s a pregnant phrase.Bravo! let me write it down;Hold it with a hopeful gaze,Gauge […]

So easy ’tis to make a rhyme,That did the world but know it,Your coachman might Parnassus climb,Your butler be a poet. Then, oh, how charming it would beIf, when in haste hystericYou called the page, you learned that heWas grappling with a lyric. Or else what rapture it would yield,When cook sent up the salad,To […]

You who have lived in the land,You who have trusted the trail,You who are strong to withstand,You who are swift to assail:Songs have I sung to beguile, Vintage of desperate years, Hard as a harlot’s smile, Bitter as unshed tears. Little of joy or mirth,Little of ease I sing;Sagas of men of earthHumanly suffering,Such as […]

Oh, it’s pleasant sitting here,Seeing all the people pass;You beside your bock of beer,I behind my demi-tasse.Chatting of no matter what.You the Mummer, I the Bard;Oh, it’s jolly, is it not?–Sitting on the Boulevard. More amusing than a book,If a chap has eyes to see;For, no matter where I look,Stories, stories jump at me.Moving tales […]

Can you recall, dear comrade, when we tramped God’s land together,And we sang the old, old Earth-song, for our youth was very sweet;When we drank and fought and lusted, as we mocked at tie and tether,Along the road to Anywhere, the wide world at our feet — Along the road to Anywhere, when each day […]

Of course you’ve heard of the Nancy Lee, and how she sailed awayOn her famous quest of the Arctic flea, to the wilds of Hudson’s Bay?For it was a foreign Prince’s whim to collect this tiny cuss,And a golden quid was no more to him than a copper to coves like us.So we sailed away […]

The humble garret where I dwellIs in that Quarter called the Latin;It isn’t spacious–truth to tell,There’s hardly room to swing a cat in.But what of that! It’s there I fightFor food and fame, my Muse inviting,And all the day and half the nightYou’ll find me writing, writing, writing. Now, it was in the month of […]