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by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)
Translation by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912)

Causerie
Language: French (Français) 
Vous êtes un beau ciel d’automne, clair et rose !
Mais la tristesse en moi monte comme la mer,
Et laisse, en refluant, sur ma lèvre morose
Le souvenir cuisant de son limon amer.

— Ta main se glisse en vain sur mon sein qui se pâme ;
Ce qu’elle cherche, amie, est un lieu saccagé
Par la griffe et la dent féroce de la femme. —
Ne cherchez plus mon cœur ; [des monstres]1 l’ont mangé.

Mon cœur est un palais flétri par la cohue ;
On s’y soûle, on s’y tue, on s’y prend aux cheveux.
— Un parfum nage autour de votre gorge nue ! —

Ô Beauté, dur fléau des âmes ! tu le veux !
Avec tes yeux de feu, brillants comme des fêtes,
Calcine ces lambeaux qu’ont épargnés les bêtes !

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 121-122. Also confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 127-128. Also 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 171. Punctuation follows 1857 edition. Note: this was number 51 in the first edition of Les Fleurs du mal but number 55 or 56 in subsequent editions.

1 1861 and 1868 editions: "les bêtes"

Text Authorship:

  • by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Causerie", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 55, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857 [author's text checked 4 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 Raymond Charpentier (1880 - 1960), "Causerie", 1910, published 1925 [ high voice, string quartet, piano ], from Deux poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 2, Paris, Éditions Maurice Senart [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Maurice Rollinat (1846 - 1903), "Causerie" [ high voice and piano ], from Six poésies de Ch. Baudelaire, no. 1, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Rozhovor"


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2017-02-28
Line count: 14
Word count: 130

Rozhovor
Language: Czech (Čeština)  after the French (Français) 
Jak nebe podzimní vás jasnou, růžnou zřím!
Však smutek v duši mou jak moře stoupá valné
a nechá v odlivu jen chmurným retům mým
vzpomínky hlodavé vždy hořké bláto kalné.

— Tvá ruka nadarmo se po mých ňadrech stáčí,
co hledá, družko má, je poušť zloupená velmi,
spár ženy řádil tam i její zlý zub dračí,
mé srdce nehledej, to zhltly divé šelmy.

Mé srdce palác je, dav zdeptal jeho prahy,
tam vraždí, zpíjí se, rve sobě vlas ta spřež!
— Dech vůně obléhá šíj vaši i prs nahý!...

Ó duší katane, ó Kráso, ty to chceš!
svým zrakem ohnivým, jenž jako banket šílí,
ty cáry zvápenat, jež šelmy ušetřily!

Confirmed with BAUDELAIRE, Charles. Výbor z Květů zla, translated by Jaroslav Vrchlický, Praha : Otto, 1927, page 34.


Text Authorship:

  • by Jaroslav Vrchlický (1853 - 1912), "Rozhovor" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Causerie", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 55, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857
    • Go to the text page.

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: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2019-07-15
Line count: 14
Word count: 110

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–Emily Ezust, Founder

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