Mère des souvenirs, maîtresse des maîtresses, — Ô toi, tous mes plaisirs ! ô toi, tous mes devoirs ! — Tu te rappelleras la beauté des caresses, La douceur du foyer et le charme des soirs, Mère des souvenirs, maîtresse des maîtresses ! Les soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon, Et les soirs au balcon, voilés de [vapeurs roses]1 ; Que ton sein m'était doux ! que ton cœur m'était bon ! Nous avons dit souvent d'impérissables choses Les soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon. Que les soleils sont beaux par les chaudes soirées ! Que l'espace est profond ! que le cœur est puissant ! En me penchant vers toi, reine des adorées, Je croyais respirer le parfum de ton sang. Que les soleils sont beaux par les chaudes soirées ! La nuit s'épaississait ainsi qu'une cloison, Et mes yeux dans le noir devinaient tes prunelles, Et je buvais ton souffle, ô douceur, ô poison ! Et tes pieds s'endormaient dans mes mains fraternelles ; La nuit s'épaississait ainsi qu'une cloison. Je sais l'art d'évoquer les minutes heureuses, Et revis mon passé blotti dans tes genoux. Car à quoi bon chercher tes beautés langoureuses Ailleurs qu'en ton cher corps et qu'en ton cœur si doux ? Je sais l'art d'évoquer les minutes heureuses ! Ces serments, ces parfums, ces baisers infinis, Renaîtront-ils d'un gouffre interdit à nos sondes, Comme montent au ciel les soleils rajeunis Après s'être lavés au fond des mers profondes ? — Ô serments ! ô parfums ! ô baisers infinis !
Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 81-82. Also confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 82-83. 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 137-138. Punctuation and formatting follows 1857 edition of Les Fleurs du mal. Note: this was number 34 in the 1857 edition of Les Fleurs du mal but 36 or 37 in subsequent editions.
First published May 17, 1857 in Journal d'Alençon.
1 C. Debussy: "vapeur rose"Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Le Balcon", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 36, Alençon, Journal d'Alençon, first published 1857 [author's text checked 3 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 Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "Le balcon", L. 70/(64) no. 1 (1887-9), published 1890 [ voice and piano ], from Cinq Poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Matthijs Vermeulen (1888 - 1967), "Le balcon", 1944, first performed 1946 [ mezzo-soprano or tenor and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) [singable] (Núria Colomer) , "El balcó", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Haasz) , "Balkon"
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "The balcony", copyright © 2001, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "The Balcony", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909
- HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Árpád Tóth) , "A balkon"
- ROM Romanian (Română) (Alexandru I. Philippide) , "Balconul"
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Victor Torres) , "El balcón", 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: 30
Word count: 256
Oh, Mother of Memories! Mistress of Mistresses! Oh, thou all my pleasures, oh, thou all my prayers! Can'st thou remember those luscious caresses, The charm of the hearth and the sweet evening airs? Oh, Mother of Memories, Mistress of Mistresses! Those evenings illumed by the glow of the coal, And those roseate nights with their vaporous wings, How calm was thy breast and how good was thy soul, 'Twas then we uttered imperishable things, Those evenings illumed by the glow of the coal. How lovely the suns on those hot, autumn nights! How vast were the heavens! and the heart how hale! As I leaned towards you — oh, my Queen of Delights, The scent of thy blood I seemed to inhale. How lovely the sun on those hot, autumn nights! The shadows of night-time grew dense like a pall, And deep through the darkness thine eyes I divined, And I drank of thy breath — oh sweetness, oh gall, And thy feet in my brotherly hands reclined, The shadows of Night-time grew dense like a pall. I know how to call forth those moments so dear, And to live my Past — laid on thy knees — once more, For where should I seek for thy beauties but here In thy langorous heart and thy body so pure? I know how to call forth those moments so dear. Those perfumes, those infinite kisses and sighs, Are they born in some gulf to our plummets denied? Like rejuvenate suns that mount up to the skies, That first have been cleansed in the depths of the tide; Oh, perfumes! oh, infinite kisses and sighs!
Confirmed with Cyril Scott, The Flowers of Evil [by Charles Baudelaire; translated into English verse by Cyril Scott], London: Elkin Mathews, 1909, page 26.
Authorship:
- by Cyril Meir Scott (1879 - 1970), "The Balcony", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Le Balcon", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 36, Alençon, Journal d'Alençon, first published 1857
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: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-08-21
Line count: 30
Word count: 273