To Louise d’Or., Queen

Poem by Gérard De Nerval Period 19th century

The old father, trembling, shook the universe.
Isis, the mother, at last rose from her bed,
Made a gesture of hatred toward her fierce spouse,
And the ardor of former times shone in her green eyes.

“Look at him!” she said, “he sleeps, that old pervert,
All the hoarfrosts of the world have passed through his mouth,
Beware his foot, put out his squinting eye,
He is the king of volcanoes and the God of winters!

“The eagle has already passed: Napoleon calls me;
For him I have donned the robe of Cybele,
He is my husband Hermes and my brother Osiris…”;

The Goddess had fled on her golden conch;
The sea sent back to us her adored image
And the heavens radiated beneath the sash of Iris!

Gérard de Nerval

Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.

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