Carte de visite.

Studio of Constantin Luck (1854-1916), Victoriastr. 26, Düsseldorf.

Bought from an eBay seller in Hamburg, Germany.

LICE-HUNTERS by Arthur Rimbaud (as translated by Ezra Pound)

When the kid’s forehead is full of red torments Imploring swarms of dreams with vague contents, Two large and charming sisters come With wafty fingers and silvery nails, to his bedroom.

They set the kid by a wideopen window where A tangle of flowers bathes in the blue air And run fine, alluring, terrible Fingers through his thick dewmatted hair.

He hears the rustling of their timid breath Flowered with the long pinkish vegetable honies underneath Or broken anon, sibilant, the saliva’s hiss Drawn from a lip, or a desire to kiss.

He hears their black eyelashes beat in that quietude and “Crack!” to break his inebriated indolences Neath their electric and so soft fingers death assails The little lice beneath their regal nails.

And Lo! there mounts within him Wine of Laziness – a squiffer’s sigh Might bring delirium – and the kid feels Neath the slowness of their caresses, constantly Wane and fade a desire to cry.