Quand je te vois passer, ô ma chère indolente, Au chant des instruments qui se brise au plafond Suspendant ton allure harmonieuse et lente, Et promenant l'ennui de ton regard profond ; Quand je contemple, [sous le]1 gaz qui le colore, Ton front pâle, embelli par un morbide attrait, Où les torches du soir allument une aurore, Et tes yeux attirants comme ceux d'un portrait, Je me dis : qu'elle est belle ! et bizarrement fraîche ! Le souvenir massif, royale et lourde tour, La couronne, et son cœur, meurtri comme une pêche, Est mûr, comme son corps, pour le savant amour. Es-tu le fruit d'automne aux saveurs souveraines ? Es-tu vase funèbre attendant quelques pleurs, Parfum qui fait rêver aux oasis lointaines, Oreiller caressant, ou corbeille de fleurs ? Je sais qu'il est des yeux, des plus mélancoliques, Qui ne recèlent point de secrets précieux ; Beaux écrins sans joyaux, médaillons sans reliques, Plus vides, plus profonds que vous-mêmes, ô Cieux ! Mais ne suffit-il pas que tu sois l'apparence, Pour réjouir un cœur qui fuit la vérité ? Qu'importe ta bêtise ou ton indifférence ? Masque ou décor, salut ! J'adore ta beauté.
Confirmed with Revue contemporaine, neuvième année, seconde série, tome quinzième, Paris: Bureaux de la Revue contemporaine, 1860, pages 95-96. Also confirmed with Les Fleurs du mal, Spleen et Idéal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861, pages 229-230. Also confirmed with Œuvres complètes de Charles Baudelaire, vol. I : Les Fleurs du mal, Spleen et Idéal, Paris: Michel Lévy frères, 1868, pages 280-281. Punctuation and formatting follows 1860 edition. Note: this appears in the 1861 edition of Les Fleurs du mal as number 98 but as number 122 in subsequent editions.
The following epigraph appears in the 1860 edition:Même elle avait encor cet éclat emprunté
Dont elle eut soin de peindre et d'orner son visage
Pour réparer des ans l'irréparable outrage.
(Racine, Athalie.)
1 1861 and 1868 editions: "aux feux du"
Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "L'amour du mensonge", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 2. Tableaux parisiens, no. 98, Paris, Bureaux de la Revue contemporaine, first published 1860 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Gérard Bertouille (1898 - 1981), "L'amour du mensonge", 1939 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Haasz) , "Láska ke lži"
- ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "Illusionary Love", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2011-03-06
Line count: 24
Word count: 195
When I behold thee wander by, my languorous love, To songs of viols which throughout the dome resound, Harmonious and stately as thy footsteps move, Bestowing forth the languor of thy glance profound. When I regard thee, glowing in the gaslight rays, Thy pallid brow embellished by a charm obscure, Here where the evening torches light the twilight haze, Thine eyes attracting me like those of a portraiture, I say — How beautiful she is! how strangely rich! A mighty memory, royal and commanding tower, A garland: and her heart, bruised like a ruddy peach, Is ripe — like her body for Love's sapient power. Art thou, that spicy Autumn-fruit with taste supreme? Art thou a funeral vase inviting tears of grief? Aroma — causing one of Eastern wastes to dream; A downy cushion, bunch of flowers or golden sheaf? I know that there are eyes, most melancholy ones, Wherein no precious secret deeply hidden lies, Resplendent shrines, devoid of relics, sacred stones, More empty, more profound than ye yourselves, O skies? Yea, does thy semblance, not alone for me suffice, To kindle senses which the cruel truth abhor? All one to me! thy folly or thy heart of ice, Decoy or mask, all hail! thy beauty I adore!
Confirmed with Cyril Scott, The Flowers of Evil [by Charles Baudelaire; translated into English verse by Cyril Scott], London: Elkin Mathews, 1909, page 59.
Authorship:
- by Cyril Meir Scott (1879 - 1970), "Illusionary Love", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "L'amour du mensonge", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 2. Tableaux parisiens, no. 98, Paris, Bureaux de la Revue contemporaine, first published 1860
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-08-20
Line count: 24
Word count: 209