About the poet:

Paul Verlaine

Paul Verlaine was born on March 30, 1844 and became one of the greatest and most popular of French poets. Born in Metz, he was educated in Paris and began a post in the civil service. He started writing poetry at an early age and his first collection, Poemes saturniens was published in 1867.Verlaine’s work reflected his private life beginning with his love for Mathilde Maute, who later became his wife. By 1872 he had lost interest in her, and effectively abandoned her and their son, preferring the company of his homosexual lover, Arthur Rimbaud. Verlaine was a heavy drinker, and shot Rimbaud in a jealous rage, injuring him not killing him. As an indirect result of the incident, he was arrested and imprisoned at Mons, where he underwent a religious conversion, which again influenced his work. Romances sans paroles was the poetic outcome of this period.

Following his release, Verlaine travelled to England, where he worked for some years as a teacher and worked on another successful collection, Sagesse. He returned to France in 1877, and, while teaching English at a school in Rethel, became infatuated with one of his pupils, Lucien Letinois, who inspired further poems. Verlaine was devastated when the boy died of typhoid fever.

Verlaine’s last years witnessed a descent into alcoholism, insanity, and poverty. Yet even in his lifetime, his poetry was recognised as ground-breaking. Perhaps the best-known of Verlaine’s poems is Chanson d’automne, largely thanks to its use as a code message for the Allies during the Second World War. Verlaine’s poetry was also popular with musicians, such as Faure, who set several of his poems, including La bonne chanson.

Paul Verlaine died in 1896 and is buried in Paris.
Bibliography source: knowledgerush.com

Tears fall in my heart

Rain falls on the town;

what is this numb hurt

that enters my heart?

Ah,the soft sound of rain

on roofs, on the ground!

To a dulled heart they came,

ah, the song of the rain!

Tears without reason

in the disheartened heart.

What? no trace of treason?

This grief’s without reason.

It’s far the worst pain

to never know why

without love or disdain

my heart has such pain!

SOURCE: https://allpoetry.com/Paul-Verlaine

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/best-famous-poems-ever-written

With respect.