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— De sa fourrure blonde et brune
Sort au parfum si doux qu’un soir
J’en fus embaumé, pour l’avoir
Caressée une fois, rien qu’une.
C’est l’esprit familier du lieu ;
Il juge, il préside, il inspire
Toutes choses dans son empire ;
Peut-être est-il fée, est-il dieu ?
Quand mes yeux vers ce chat que j’aime,
Tirés comme par un aimant,
Se retournent docilement,
Et que je regarde en moi-même,
Je vois avec étonnement
Le feu de ses prunelles pâles,
Clairs fanaux, vivantes opales,
Qui me contemplent fixement.
Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 7-10 of the original text.
Note for stanza 7: In the 1861 and 1868 editions, the poem is split into two sections. The heading I precedes the first stanza of the poem, and the heading II appears before this stanza.
Composition:
- Set to music by Henri-Pierre Poupard (1901 - 1989), as Henri Sauguet, "Le chat II", 1938, published 1944, stanzas 7-10 [ medium voice and piano ], from Six mélodies sur des poèms Symbolistes, no. 6, Éd. Amphion
Text Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Le chat", written 1857, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 47, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Haasz) , "Kot", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1919
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Juan Henríquez Concepción) , "El gato", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 40
Word count: 226
... ... ... ...
Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 7-10 of the original text.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to Spanish (Español) copyright © 2008 by Juan Henríquez Concepción, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Juan Henríquez Concepción. We have no current contact information for the copyright-holder.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Le chat", written 1857, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 47, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857
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This text was added to the website: 2008-09-03
Line count: 24
Word count: 133