Sonnet to Madame Fanny A. P., Poem by Charles Cros

Poem by Charles Cros Collection The Sandalwood CasketPeriod 19th century

To Madame Fanny A. P.

For the supernatural radiance of blond hair,
For the snow of the neck, the dawn of the mouth,
I dream of a painting where, fragile, each touch
Is a smile, the price of long and fervent efforts.

The background, a September sky where the sun sets,
Would be of blue sapphires, of vermilion rubies.
My palette would be the wing of butterflies
And my brushes strands of hummingbird crest.

I would first engrave with a diamond,
In fine lines, the eyebrow, the eye, the cheek and the ear,
A pink conch listening to my verses mischievously.

Then the dust of gold and mother-of-pearl, like
The flashes of enamel, the velvet of pastel,
Would tint this portrait, pale beside reality.

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-sonnet-to-mme-fanny-a-p-charles-cros/