The Fountain
By Charles Bauldelaire
(translated by Anthony Hecht)
My dear, your eyes are weary;
Rest them a little while.
Assume the languid posture
Of pleasure mixed with guile.
Outside the talkative fountain
Continues night and day
Repeating my warm passion
In whatever it has to say.
The sheer luminous gown
The fountain wears
Where Phoebe’s very own
Color appears
Falls like a summer rain
Or shawl of tears.
Thus your soul ignited
By pleasure’s lusts and needs
Sprays into heaven’s reaches
And dreams of fiery deeds.
Then it brims over, dying,
And languorous, apart,
Drains down some slope and enters
The dark well of my heart.
The sheer luminous gown
The fountain wears
Where Phoebe’s very own
Color appears
Falls like a summer rain
Or shawl of tears.
O you, whom night enhances,
How sweet here at your breasts
To hear the eternal sadness
Of water that never rests.
O moon, o singing fountain,
O leaf-thronged night above,
You are the faultless mirrors
Of my sweet, bitter love.
The sheer luminous gown
The fountain wears
Where Phoebe’s very own
Color appears
Falls like a summer rain
Or shawl of tears.
Dear Friend, your pictures are so beautiful! May I compare the fountains with the vital sources of our existence! Happy Friday!
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Thank you dear Ann. I like your comparison “with the vital sources of our existence”, water is life. Happy Friday my friend! Hope you have a wonderful weekend! 🙂
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My pleasure!
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The fountains are beautifully captured, especially with such active clouds giving additional life to the photo:)
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Thanks Inger. My sister used to work in the building. She said it looks better in my photo than it did from inside. 🙂
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Buona giornata Maverick 🙂
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Grazie mio cara. E ‘bello vederti. 🙂
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very nice, but je préfère la VO = version originale – en français… 🙂
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Je vous remercie. Je suis sûr en français, il est préférable. 🙂
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