Ballad of the Bad People, Poem by Charles Cros

Poem by Charles Cros Collection The Collar of ClawsPeriod 19th century

Whether we live amid the sparks
Or sleep upon the grassy lawn
To the sound of rakes and shovels,
We hear males and females
Ready for any betrayal,
The perpetual persons
Sharpening their cruel claws,
The persons who are right.

They dream (new things!)
Of pistols and of poison.
They have songs of rattles,
They have nothing in their brains
Nor in their hearts a single ember,
Crushing flowers under their soles
And racing along roads (which ones?)
The persons who are right.

Despite so many deadly insults
The roses grow in abundance
And breasts swell the lace
And the horizon is still rose;
Rose are Marie and Suzon!
But the others, what do they want?
They really are not beautiful,
The persons who are right.

ENVOI

Prince, who, gracious, excel
At pulling us out of prison,
Chase far away with your refrains
The persons who are right.

Charles Cros

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

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