Français
Español
Italiano
Deutsch
Português
Poking, poking his amorous heart beneath
His chaste black robe, happy, gloved hand,
One day as he went along, frightfully gentle,
Yellow, drooling the faith of his toothless mouth,
One day as he went along, “Oremus,” — a Wicked One
Took him roughly by his benign ear
And hurled frightful words at him, tearing off
His chaste black robe from around his moist skin!
Punishment!… His clothes were unbuttoned,
And the long rosary of forgiven sins
Slipping bead by bead in his heart, Saint Tartuffe was pale!…
So he confessed, prayed, with a death rattle!
The man contented himself with carrying off his bands…
— Pff! Tartuffe was naked from top to bottom!
Arthur Rimbaud
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-tartuffes-punishment-arthur-rimbaud/