L'invitation au voyage [English translation]

My child, my sister,

Dream of the delight1

Of going there to live together!

To love as we please,

To love and die

In the country that is just like you!

The damp suns

Of those misty skies

Offer my spirit those charms,

So mysterious,

Of your deceiving eyes,

Sparkling through your tears.

There, everything is only orderliness and beauty,

Luxury, calm, and sensuousness.

The shining furniture,

Polished by the years,

Would decorate our bedroom.2

The rarest flowers

Mixing their scents

With the vague aromas of amber,

The rich ceilings,

The deep mirrors,

The oriental splendour,

Everything would speak

Secretly to the soul

In its native language.

There, everything is only orderliness and beauty,

Luxury, calm, and sensuousness.

See on those canals

Those vessels sleeping,

Whose mood is vagabond.3

It is to sate

Your slightest desire

That they come to the end of the world.

The setting suns

Bathe the fields,

The canals, the entire city

In hyacinth and gold.

The world sleeps

In a warm light.

There, everything is only orderliness and beauty,

Luxury, calm, and sensuousness.

1. "Douceur" usually translates as either "gentleness" or "sweetness." I'm taking a small liberty here.2. There's a number of places in the original French that show a semicolon. That would be a bit strange in English so I've adjusted the punctuation according to my understanding of how this would all make some kind of sense.3. Ships travel a lot.

• Artist:Charles Baudelaire
• Album:Les fleurs du mal (1861 - 2ème édition) - 053 - Spleen et idéal - LIII