Tu ronfles [English translation]

A slight noise wakes me up

While slumber flees from me

Without any remorse:

You sleep!

It's but a quaver rest1

That lies just as it breathes,2

Just an uncertain breeze,

So far,

Like a forlorn sailor

Sighting the scolding clouds

Can guess the harbinger

Of storm,

I hear the creaking masts,

The rigging, the sailcloth

By a sudden squall swollen:

You snore!

While I peacefully drowse

Just like a nightingale,

Fluting my melody

In vain,

You roar, trumpet and blare,

Like lion, elephant,

At the Grand Parade, at

Barnum.

After a whole concert

Of snorting, gasping brass,

Now you suddenly stop,

At last!

False alarm! I can hear

The party taking up,

Balloons blown up again:

You snore!

How nice you imitate

The pattering of hail,

The wind, the hurricane,

The gale,

And then the growling tiger

In the rustling bamboo,

Or the bellowing stag

In fog;

Sand hissing on a dune,

Wolf howling at the moon,

A bright and jolly fire

Rumbling;

The vague and murky note

Uttered by the bagpipes

When they sadly deflate:

You snore!

But then, one day you left

To leave in other beds

The sweet smell of your skin,

Your heart.

I do not better sleep

Without your charming noise;

The silence that followed

Is pain.

And yet, if I refuse

To feel, of jealousy,

The aching and useless

Torment,

I do hope that she spoils

Your nights, that crafty bitch,

And will get on your nerves,

Snoring!

1. Could also be understood as "half a sigh".2. Il ment comme il respire = he's a born liar.

• Artist:Juliette (France)