The Death of Lovers by Charles Baudelaire (La Mort des Amants)
Analysis
This poem is the author's realization that death is his only escape from the evilness of the world that was perhaps keeping two lovers away from each other.
"The Death of Lovers" is a poem made up of fourteen lines with the first two stanzas rhyming ABAB and the last two ABA. It is written in iambic pentameter. The translation of the poem did a great job keeping the true nature of the writing in tact. Generally, translations don't follow the same rhyme scheme or have the same amount of syllables, but this one does.
Poem
The Death of Lovers There shall be couches whence faint odours rise, Divans like sepulchres, deep and profound; Strange flowers that bloomed beneath diviner skies The death-bed of our love shall breathe around. And guarding their last embers till the end, Our hearts shall be the torches of the shrine, And their two leaping flames shall fade and blend In the twin mirrors of your soul and mine. And through the eve of rose and mystic blue A beam of love shall pass from me to you, Like a long sigh charged with a last farewell; And later still an angel, flinging wide The gates, shall bring to life with joyful spell The tarnished mirrors and the flames that died. Published in 1857. Translated by F. P. Sturm, 1905
Poem
La Mort des Amants Nous aurons des lits pleins d'odeurs légères, Des divans profonds comme des tombeaux, Et d'étranges fleurs sur des étagères, Ecloses pour nous sous des cieux plus beaux. Usant à l'envi leurs chaleurs dernières, Nos deux coeurs seront deux vastes flambeaux, Qui réfléchiront leurs doubles lumières Dans nos deux esprits, ces miroirs jumeaux. Un soir fait de rose et de bleu mystique, Nous échangerons un éclair unique, Comme un long sanglot, tout chargé d'adieux; Et plus tard un Ange, entr'ouvrant les portes, Viendra ranimer, fidèle et joyeux, Les miroirs ternis et les flammes mortes. Poème de Charles Baudelaire Publié en 1857.
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