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by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)

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 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Benjamin C. S. Boyle , "La prière d'un païen", op. 24 no. 3, published 2011, first performed 2011 [ vocal duet for tenor and soprano with piano ], from Chansons de Diane, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in English, a translation by Richard Joseph Howard (b. 1929) , copyright © ; composed by Bruce Christian Bennett.
    • Go to the text.

Other 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: 65

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