Ethiopian Song, Poem by Charles Cros

Poem by Charles Cros Collection The Sandalwood CasketPeriod 19th century

To Emile Wroblewski

Bring me fragrant flowers,
To adorn me, wandering companions,
To charm you, O my beloved.
Already the wind rises, perfumed.

The evening wind makes your loincloths flutter.
In your hair, why, my companions,
Interweave these milk-white pearls?
My neck—he says—pleases him without pearls.

My neck, which he takes between his supple arms,
Trembles with love. We see in pairs,
Close beside us, among the reeds,
In the lily of the valley, the birds playing.

The white lily of the valley makes white pearls.
My beloved fastens to my hips
My loincloth adorned with flowering lily of the valley;
My teeth—he says—have its pallor.

My white teeth and my yielding breast,
My long hair, he alone possesses them.
Since the evening when his eye lit me,
He is mine; I am his.

Charles Cros

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-ethiopian-song-charles-cros/