Nous aurons des lits pleins d'odeurs légères,
Des divans profonds comme des tombeaux,
Et d'étranges fleurs sur des étagères,
Écloses pour nous sous des cieux plus beaux.

Usant à l'envi leurs chaleurs dernières,
Nos deux cœurs seront deux vastes flambeaux,
Qui réfléchiront leurs doubles lumières
Dans nos deux esprits, ces miroirs jumeaux.

Un soir [plein]1 de rose et de bleu mystique,
Nous échangerons un éclair unique,
Comme un long sanglot, tout chargé d'adieux ;

Et [bientôt]2 un Ange, entr'ouvrant les portes,
Viendra ranimer, fidèle et joyeux,
Les miroirs ternis et les flammes mortes.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, in La Mort, pages 243-244. Note: this was number 98 in the first edition of Les Fleurs du mal but number 121 or 146 in subsequent editions.

¹ 1861 and 1868 editions, Bachlund, Charpentier, Debussy, Desbonnet, van Deurzen: "fait"
² 1861 and 1868 editions, Bachlund, Charpentier, Debussy, Desbonnet, van Deurzen: "plus tard"

Text Authorship:

• by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "La mort des amants", written 1851, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 6. La Mort, no. 121, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857 [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 Georges Antoine (1892 - 1918), "La mort des amants", op. 5 no. 2, published 1926 [ medium voice, piano, and viola ], from Album de six mélodies, no. 3, Paris, Éd. Maurice Sénart [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "La mort des amants", 1990 [ medium voice and piano ], from La Mort, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by René-Emmanuel Baton (1879 - 1940), as Rhené-Baton, "La mort des amants", 1900, published [1901] [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Max Eschig & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Albert Bertelin (1872 - 1951), "La mort des amants" [ high voice and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 6, Éd. Loret Fils et H. Freytag [sung text not yet checked]
• by Marie-Thérèse Bonhomme , "La mort des amants", op. 49 (1928) [ voice and orchestra ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Michel Bosc (b. 1963), "La mort des amants", op. 134 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Benjamin C. S. Boyle , "La mort des amants ", published 2000 [ voice and piano ], from Quatre Chansons, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gustave Charpentier (1860 - 1956), "La mort des amants", 1895, published 1895 [ voice and piano ], from Les Fleurs du Mal, no. 3, Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel', Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "La mort des amants", L. 70/(64) no. 5 (1887-9), published 1890 [ voice and piano ], from Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Germain Desbonnet (1938 - 2007), "La mort des amants", 1978, published 1985 [ high voice and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 4, Éd. du compositeur [sung text not yet checked]
• by Patrick van Deurzen (b. 1964), "La mort des amants" [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Léo Ferré (1916 - 1993), "La mort des amants", published 1963 [ low voice and piano ], Éd. S.E.M.I. Méridian [sung text not yet checked]
• by Luis de Freitas Branco (1890 - 1955), "La mort des amants", 1909, published 1997 [ medium voice and piano ], from Canções Francesas - La Mort, Trilogia da Morte, no. 1, Éd. Musicoteca Lisboa [sung text not yet checked]
• by Wim Laman (b. 1946), "La mort des amants", 1981, from Fleurs du mal, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Albert Le Guillard (1887 - 1958), "La mort des amants", op. 8 no. 1, published 1922 [ high voice and piano ], from Quatre mélodies, no. 1, Paris, Éd. Maurice Sénart [sung text not yet checked]
• by René Lenormand (1846 - 1932), "La mort des amants", op. 33 no. 3 [ medium voice and piano ], from Les fleurs du mal, no. 3, Édition Maurice Senart [sung text not yet checked]
• by Guillemette Marrannes (b. 1954), "La mort des amants", 1998 [ high voice and piano ], from Sept mélodies de mer et d'amour, no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Émile Poirson , "La Mort des amants", op. 1 no. 4, published [1907] [ medium voice and piano ], from Chansons de poètes, no. 4, Éd. A.Z. Mathot [sung text not yet checked]
• by Maurice Rollinat (1846 - 1903), "La mort des amants" [ voice and piano ], from Six nouvelles poésies de Ch. Baudelaire, no. 3, Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gaston Serpette (1846 - 1904), "La mort des amants", published c1897 [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. Richault & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Leo Smit (1900 - 1943), "La mort des amants", 1938 [ duet for soprano and alto with piano ], from La mort, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ricardo Viñes (1875 - 1943), "À Elle - La Mort des amants", 1895 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

• ENG English (Peter Low) , "The death of the lovers", copyright © 2001, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "The Death of the Lovers", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909
• GER German (Deutsch) (Stefan George) , "Der Tod der Liebenden", appears in Die Blumen des Bösen, in Der Tod, Berlin: Bondi, first published 1901
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "La morte degli amanti", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• POL Polish (Polski) (Bronisława Ostrowska) , "Śmierć Kochanków", Kraków, first published 1911
• SPA Spanish (Español) (Victor Torres) , "La muerte de los amantes", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

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

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 92

Avremo letti colmi di aromi leggeri,
e divani come le tombe  profondi,
e sopra le mensole staranno strani fiori,
solo per noi sbocciati sotto i cieli più belli.

A gara consumando la loro ultima brace
i nostri cuori arderanno come fiaccole grandi,
e splenderà il riflesso della loro doppia luce,
dentro le anime nostre, come specchi gemelli.

In una sera intessuta di rosa e di azzurro mistico,
fra noi due  correrà un istante unico,
come, pesante di addii, nasce un lungo singhiozzo;

E un angelo più tardi, spalancando le porte,
verrà a ravvivare, fedele e gioioso
gli specchi appannati e le fiamme ormai morte.