In the last book of his correspondence, Sidonius chooses to introduce verses exclusively in the final four letters (epist. 9, 13-16) while saying that he renounces poetry. These are both poems he has just written and which he denigrates, and poems written earlier. I will therefore analyse this poetics of contrast and paradox in order to understand the poetic and spiritual significance of this "final bouquet". On this basis, I will also try to figure out which function book IX fulfils within Sidonius' correspondence, and more broadly within his whole opus.