Sara, beauty of indolence,
Sways
In a hammock above
The basin of a fountain
All full
Of water drawn from the Ilisos.

And the fragile swing
Is reflected
In the transparent mirror,
With the white bather
Who leans over,
Who leans over to see herself.

Each time that the basket
Which totters
Passes just above the water in its flight,
One sees upon the water that ripples
Going out quickly
Her lovely foot and her beautiful neck.

She beats with a timid foot
The wet wave
Which ripples its clear picture;
The lovely foot blushes alabaster;
The playful girl
Laughs in the freshness of the water.

Remain here hidden: stay!
In an hour
With an ardent eye you will see
The ingenue getting out of the bath
Completely naked,
Crossing her hands over her arms!

For it is a star that shines,
How a girl
Who gets out of the bath at the clear swell,
Looks if anyone is coming
And shivers,
All wet in the open air!

 ... 






But Sara the blithe girl
Is very slow
To finish her gentle movements;
Always she sways
In silence,
And goes on murmuring very low:

“Oh! if I were a captain
Or a sultan,
I would take amber-scented baths
In a bathtub of yellow marble
Near a throne
Between two golden griffins!

“I would have a hammock of silk
Which bends
Under the body ready to faint,
I would have soft ottoman
From which emanates
A fragrance that makes one love.

“I could frolic nude
Under the sky.
In the stream of the garden,
Without fear of seeing in the shadow
Of the dark woods
Two eyes light up suddenly.

 ... 






“Then, I could, without anyone rushing
My idleness,
Leave with my clothes,
Dragging upon the broad flagstones
My sandals
Of woolen cloth embroidered with rubies.”

Thus the princess speaks of it,
And ceaselessly
Sways with love,
The laughing young girl,
Oblivious
To the swift wings of the day.

 ... 






And yet from the countrysides
Her companions
All take the same path.
Here is their dizzy troop
Which flies away
Holding hands.

Each one, singing like her,
Passes and mixes
This reproach to her song:
-- Oh! the lazy girl
Who dresses herself
So late on a harvest day!