Baudelaire Translation: the Balcony

Le Balcon (The Balcony) Charles Baudelaire trans. Michael R. Burch Paramour of memory, ultimate mistress, source of all pleasure, my only desire; how can I forget your ecstatic caresses, the warmth of your breasts by the roaring fire, paramour of memory, ultimate mistress? Each night illumined by the burning coals we lay together where the rose-fragrance clings; how soft your breasts, how tender your soul! Ah, and we said imperishable things, each night illumined by the burning coals. How beautiful the sunsets these sultry days, deep space so profound, beyond life’s brief floods; then, when I kissed you, my queen, in a daze, I thought I breathed the bouquet of your blood as beautiful as sunsets these sultry days. Night thickens around us like a wall; in the deepening darkness our irises meet. I drink your breath, ah! poisonous yet sweet!, as with fraternal hands I massage your feet while night thickens around us like a wall. I have mastered the sweet but difficult art of happiness here, with my head in your lap, finding pure joy in your body, your heart; because you’re the queen of my present and past I have mastered love’s sweet but difficult art. O vows! O perfumes! O infinite kisses! Can these be reborn from a gulf we can’t sound as suns reappear, as if heaven misses their light when they sink into seas dark, profound? O vows! O perfumes! O infinite kisses! Invitation to the Voyage Charles Baudelaire trans. Michael R. Burch My child, my sister, Consider the rapture Of living together! To love at our leisure Till the end of all pleasure, Then in climes so alike you, to die! The misty sunlight Of these hazy skies Charms my spirit: So mysterious Your treacherous eyes, Shining through tears. There, order and restraint redress Opulence, voluptuousness. Gleaming furniture Burnished by the years Would decorate our bedroom Where the rarest flowers Mingle their fragrances With vague scents of amber. The sumptuous ceilings, The limpid mirrors, The Oriental ornaments; Everything would speak To our secretive souls In their own indigenous language. There, order and restraint redress Opulence, voluptuousness. See, rocking on these channels: The sleepy vessels Whose vagabond dream Is to satisfy Your merest desire. They come from the ends of the world: These radiant suns Illuminating fields, Canals, the entire city, In hyacinth and gold. The world falls asleep In their warming light. There, order and restraint redress Opulence, voluptuousness.