by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)
Translation © by Richard Joseph Howard (b. 1929)
La prière d'un païen
Language: French (Français)
Ah ! ne ralentis pas tes flammes ; Réchauffe mon cœur engourdit, Volupté, torture des âmes ! Diva ! supplicem exaudi ! Déesse dans l'air répandue, Flamme dans notre souterrain ! Exauce une âme morfondue, Qui te consacre un chant d'airain. Volupté, sois toujours ma reine ! Prends le masque d'une sirène Faite de chair et de velours, Ou verse-moi tes sommeils lourds Dans le vin informe et mystique, Volupté, fantôme élastique !
Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Œuvres complètes de Charles Baudelaire, vol. I : Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Michel Lévy frères, 1868, in Spleen et Idéal, page 213.
Text Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "La Prière d'un païen", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 86, Paris, Michel Lévy frères, first published 1868
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Haasz) , "Modlitba pohanova"
- GER German (Deutsch) (Stefan George) , "Das Gebet eines Heiden", appears in Die Blumen des Bösen, in Trübsinn und Vergeisterung
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2003-12-07
Line count: 14
Word count: 63
A Pagan's Prayer Matches base text
Language: English after the French (Français)
No, no less than the worst of your fires will do [ ... ]
This text may be copyright, so we will not display it until we obtain permission to do so or discover it is public-domain.
Composition:
- Set to music by Bruce Christian Bennett (b. 1968), "A Pagan's Prayer", 1996-97 [ SATB chorus ], from Four Pieces, no. 2
Text Authorship:
- by Richard Joseph Howard (b. 1929), copyright ©
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "La Prière d'un païen", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 86, Paris, Michel Lévy frères, first published 1868
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2003-12-07
Line count: 14
Word count: 98