To Pepa, Poem by Alfred De Musset

Pepa, when night has come,
And your mother has bid you adieu;
When beneath your lamp, half undressed,
You bow your head to pray to God;

At that hour when the restless soul
Gives itself up to the counsel of night;
At the moment of taking off your nightcap
And looking under your bed;

When sleep over your family
Has spread around you;
O Pepita, charming girl,
My love, what are you thinking of?

Who knows? Perhaps of the heroine
Of some unfortunate novel;
Of all that hope divines
And reality belies;

Perhaps of those great mountains
That give birth only to mice;
Of lovers in Spain,
Of sweets, of husbands;

Perhaps of the tender confidences
Of a heart as naive as yours;
Of your dress, of the tunes you dance to;
Perhaps of me, perhaps of nothing.

Alfred De Musset

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

Text published on Poésies 123: https://www.poesies123.com/en/poem-to-pepa-alfred-de-musset/