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Charles Baudelaire - Le Revenant (The Ghost)
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Comme les anges à l`oeil fauve,
Je reviendrai dans ton alcôve
Et vers toi glisserai sans bruit
Avec les ombres de la nuit;

Et je te donnerai, ma brune,
Des baisers froids comme la lune
Et des caresses de serpent
Autour d`une fosse rampant.

Quand viendra le matin livide,
Tu trouveras ma place vide,
Où jusqu`au soir il fera froid.

Comme d`autres par la tendresse,
Sur ta vie et sur ta jeunesse,
Moi, je veux régner par l`effroi.



The Ghost

Like angels with wild beast`s eyes 
I shall return to your bedroom 
And silently glide toward you 
With the shadows of the night;

And, dark beauty, I shall give you 
Kisses cold as the moon 
And the caresses of a snake 
That crawls around a grave.

When the livid morning comes, 
You`ll find my place empty, 
And it will be cold there till night.

I wish to hold sway over 
Your life and youth by fear, 
As others do by tenderness.


— Translated by William Aggeler



The Ghost 

Like angels fierce and tawny-eyed, 
Back to your chamber I will glide, 
And noiselessly into your sight 
Steal with the shadows of the night.

And I will bring you, brown delight,
Kisses as cold as lunar night
And the caresses of a snake
Revolving in a grave. At break

Of morning in its livid hue, 
You`d find I had bequeathed to you 
An empty place as cold as stone.


Others by tenderness and ruth 
Would reign over your life and youth, 
But I would rule by fear alone.


— Translated by Roy Campbell



The Revenant

Like angels with bright savage eyes 
I will come treading phantom-wise 
Hither where thou art wont to sleep, 
Amid the shadows hollow and deep.

And I will give thee, my dark one, 
Kisses as icy as the moon, 
Caresses as of snakes that crawl 
In circles round a cistern`s wall.

When morning shows its livid face
There will be no-one in my place,
And a strange cold will settle here

Others, not knowing what thou art, 
May think to reign upon thy heart 
With tenderness; I trust to fear.


— Translated by George Dillon



The Ghost

Like angels that have monster eyes, 
Over your bedside I shall rise, 
Gliding towards you silently 
Across night`s black immensity.
O darksome beauty, you shall swoon 
At kisses colder than the moon 
And fondlings like a snake`s who coils Sinuous round the grave he soils.

When livid morning breaks apace, 
You shall find but an empty place, 
Cold until night, and bleak, and drear: 
As others do by tenderness, 
So would I rule your youthfulness 
By harsh immensities of fear.


— Translated by Jacques LeClercq
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