Bleed, My Heart!

Poem by Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly Collection PoussièresPeriod 19th century

To Armance.

Bleed, bleed, my heart… bleed! I want to smile.
Your blood will dye my lip and I will better hide
In its purple color and in its joyful folds
The torture that tears me apart.

Bleed, bleed, my heart, bleed more slowly!
Take care! someone might hear you… bleed in silence
Like an exhausted heart that has already bled so much,
At the end of blood and suffering!

When among the heartless, poor heart, I drag you,
Under my tight frock, you bleed in your night.
The six lines of flesh of the human breast
Could betray your faint sound.

But I do not allow the men of the crowd,
Insolent curious of every cruel fate,
To approach you, proud heart, to hear in my breast
The blood that flows dripping.

Bleed, bleed, my heart… I will stifle the breath
That could, by its odor, reveal the martyr!
Bleed and die, cursed heart… for the Samaritan woman
Is forever lacking to heal you!

Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly

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-bleed-my-heart-jules-barbey-d-aurevilly/