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 :!? I'm not sure that there's any serious doubt whatsoever about the nature of their relationship. They even wrote a joint sonnet,  variously called Obscur et froncé (""Hidden and wrinkled"") and the Sonnet du trou du cul (""Arsehole sonnet"").  

 :""Little doubt remain in a reasonable reader's mind that sodomy must indeed have been practised"". (Starkie, Arthur Rimbaud, 1973:184). 

 :""There is little doubt the two men became lovers"" (Schmidt, Arthur Rimbaud Complete Works, 2000:343). 

 :Novelist Alphonse Daudet reported that Rimbaud said to him ""[Verlaine] can satisfy himself on me as as much as he likes. But now he wants me to practise on him. Not on your life! He's far too filthy."" (Quoted in Robb, Rimbaud, 2000:142) 

 :Poet Maurice Rollinat recounted how Rimbaud told him ""X ... fucked me all night long and niow  I can't keep my shit in."" (Quoted in Robb, Rimbaud, 2000:142) 

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