Under a Languid Eye Half Weeping

Poem by Théodore Agrippa D'Aubigné Period 16th century

Under a languid eye half weeping,
Under a humble bearing, under a gentle face,
You hide a false glance, a flash of menace,
A prideful port, a hostile visage.

You have sweetness, but there lies within
Five parts of poison; beneath your good grace,
An outrageous disdain finds place at every turn.
You love the adversary and you hate your friend,

You act assured and live in inconstancy,
Your laughter smacks of spite. In sum, your countenance
Is like the sea that hides all thus

Under a laughing marble the reefs, the disaster,
The winds, the waves, the dead. So does the stepmother
Who disguises with honey the blackened aconite.

Théodore Agrippa d’Aubigné

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

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