Le Balcon

Paramour of memory, ultimate mistress,

source of all pleasure, my only desire;

how can I forget your ecstatic caresses,

the warmth of your breasts by the roaring fire,

paramour of memory, ultimate mistress?

Each night illumined by the burning coals

we lay together where the rose-fragrance clings—

how soft your breasts, how tender your soul!

Ah, and we said imperishable things,

each night illumined by the burning coals.

How beautiful the sunsets these sultry days,

deep space so profound, beyond life’s brief floods ...

then, when I kissed you, my queen, in a daze,

I thought I breathed the bouquet of your blood

as beautiful as sunsets these sultry days.

Night thickens around us like a wall;

in the deepening darkness our irises meet.

I drink your breath, ah! poisonous yet sweet!,

as with fraternal hands I massage your feet

while night thickens around us like a wall.

I have mastered the sweet but difficult art

of happiness here, with my head in your lap,

finding pure joy in your body, your heart;

because you’re the queen of my present and past

I have mastered love’s sweet but difficult art.

O vows! O perfumes! O infinite kisses!

Can these be reborn from a gulf we can’t sound

as suns reappear, as if heaven misses

the light when they sink into seas dark, profound?

O vows! O perfumes! O infinite kisses!