To the Reason of a Man Who Has None

Poem by Fanny De Beauharnais Collection Miscellaneous Fugitive Poems and Prose of No ConsequencePeriod 18th century

The project is worthy of another;
But I follow my vocation:
I love beings of reason;
I shall, Count, sing yours.
But, alas! It is already far away.
It is the dog of Jean de Nivelle;
It flees when one calls it:
More than a hundred times, I witnessed it.
How then to run after it?
Let us try: I want to catch it,
Lecture it in my own way,
And hold it by the leash,
Lest it dare escape.
Vain hope! My hero slumbers,
He raves, or else he sleeps,
And his reason will cry out loud,
If it is mine that wakes him.
Let us take advantage of the occasion,
To praise, in a whisper, his courage;
For he has it, like a Lion.
In war, he is a Dragon:
In Paris, he is no more than a Page,
A Page, at least, for reason.
Handsome sleeper, fair Endymion,
Feel the worth of this homage.
A charming fool is more than a sage,
Were he Pythagoras or Plato.
He makes conquest after conquest,
Always pleases, never has a mood:
One does very well without a head,
When one is endowed with a good heart.
Yours is noble & full of zeal;
You are a generous friend,
Above all, the model of husbands.
You deceived more than one beauty;
You were a dangerous lover.
Today, you love your bonds.
As the spouse of an angel, one is faithful….
He awakens; let us change our tone:
But the enterprise is too painful.
I do not believe it is possible
To say a word to his reason.

fanny-de-beauharnais

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