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To the Countess of P…
Only!…
If my heart were writing its memoirs
I believe I would put this in them:
“She wore black lace
“With a crimson petticoat.”
It was ravishing! — The damsels
Of that evening and that drawing room
Swooned before that lace…
But I preferred the petticoat.
That petticoat was my folly!
I found it delicious…
I had seen nothing, in all my life,
That so enchanted my eyes.
And I was frightened in my soul
By that charm of color.
The skirt is so near the woman,
And the eyes are so near the heart!
Had she seen it?… I do not know,
I cannot tell… but this too I know,
That yesterday, she came again
With her crimson petticoat!
And to please my savage taste,
She had, with her charming fingers,
Removed, point by point, the display
Of the lace from her flounces!
I had therefore occupied her soul
(To occupy the soul is love
For that dreamer, — woman!),
I had occupied it… one day.
Just long enough to remove that lace
Which, for women, a talisman,
Made the young ladies utter
Veritable peacock cries!
As she took it off, what was she thinking?…
Was she saying, lowering her eyes:
“For them, I shall be less beautiful,
“But for Him, — I shall please him more!”
Charming mystery that occupies me!
Did she say in her emotion:
“If the love he has for my skirt
“Would pass from my skirt to me!…”
Remain impenetrable, O mystery!
Sometimes in their enchanted minds
One is happy enough to please…
But not enough to be loved…
And what if that were my story!…
If I believed I was loved!… But if,
Madame, I was wrong to believe it?…
Put the black lace back
On your crimson petticoat!
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-a-love-of-a-skirt-jules-barbey-d-aurevilly/