It’s when he’s drunk
that he knows he should never be married
or have children;
what has he to do
with conversations of wives
or the chatter and nosepickings of children?
He should be a cloud, a forest fragrance,
a startled fawn, at one
with the elemental force
that makes a plantain leaf
fall to the ground
or a peacock spread its tail to the sun
You can find this poem in Irving Layton’s beautiful collection of poems—A Wild Peculiar Joy: The Selected Poems
Fine poem .... Irving Layton was a big influence on Leonard Cohen; Paul Verlaine had a big influence on music ... everything connects
Sure thing, when the blood scalds the veins, kids and marriage are nothing but shackles. 😉 If Verlaine would have seen this sooner he would have spared a lot of suffering, his and others’