Sonnet to Madame N., Poem by Charles Cros

Poem by Charles Cros Collection The Sandalwood CasketPeriod 19th century

To Madame N.

I would like, in gathering various memories,
To imitate the concert of your mystic graces.
In it I see, on a golden evening when mosquitoes waltz,
The blue dragonfly skimming the green rushes;

In it I see the dark-haired friend of whom he dreamed in verse,
He who made the sweet canticle of canticles;
In it I see those eyes which, in encaustic paintings,
Since Cleopatra, are still wide open.

But the opulent contour of the ivory shoulder,
The curve of the twin treasures of the breast,
Contrast with that frail, airy aspect;

And, over the charm taken from ancient splendors,
Living youth has spread its own
Beside which canticle or painting are nothing.

Charles Cros

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