# À une Madone · To a Madonna

Les Fleurs du mal · Charles Baudelaire · Spleen and Ideal

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/a-une-madone. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/a-une-madone.json.

**1** Ex-voto dans le goût espagnol  
Ex-voto in the Spanish taste


**2** Je veux bâtir pour toi, Madone, ma maîtresse,  
I want to build for you, Madonna, my mistress,

**3** Un autel souterrain au fond de ma détresse,  
an underground altar in the depths of my distress,

**4** Et creuser dans le coin le plus noir de mon coeur,  
and to hollow out, in the blackest corner of my heart,

**5** Loin du désir mondain et du regard moqueur,  
far from worldly desire and the mocking gaze,

**6** Une niche, d'azur et d'or tout émaillée,  
a niche, all enameled in azure and gold,

**7** Où tu te dresseras, Statue émerveillée.  
where you will stand erect, a wondering Statue.
> Pronominal «se dresser» + future: «se dresser» = 'to stand up, rise erect, draw oneself up'. The reflexive «te» makes the rising the statue's own act. The future «dresseras» joins the chain of vows («Je veux bâtir… Je ferai… Je saurai…») in which the poet promises to enshrine her: 'where you will stand erect.'

**8** Avec mes Vers polis, treillis d'un pur métal  
With my polished Verses, a lattice of pure metal

**9** Savamment constellé de rimes de cristal  
skillfully studded with rhymes of crystal,

**10** Je ferai pour ta tête une énorme Couronne;  
I will make for your head an enormous Crown;

**11** Et dans ma Jalousie, ô mortelle Madone  
and out of my Jealousy, O mortal Madonna,

**12** Je saurai te tailler un Manteau, de façon  
I will know how to cut you a Mantle, in a fashion
> «savoir» + infinitive = know how to: «savoir» before an infinitive means 'to know how to', not merely 'to know'. In the future, «je saurai te tailler» = 'I will know how to cut you' — i.e. 'I will manage to / be able to cut you' a mantle. The object pronoun «te» here is the dative 'for you'.

**13** Barbare, roide et lourd, et doublé de soupçon,  
barbaric, stiff and heavy, and lined with suspicion,
> roide / raide: «roide» is the older spelling of «raide» = 'stiff, rigid, unbending'. Baudelaire keeps the archaic form for its heavier sound and antique color, in keeping with the «barbare» mantle being forged.

**14** Qui, comme une guérite, enfermera tes charmes,  
which, like a sentry-box, will shut in your charms,
> guérite (f.): «une guérite» is a sentry-box — the small, close booth a soldier stands guard in. The jealous mantle encloses her «charmes» as tightly and grimly as a sentry-box hems in its guard.

**15** Non de Perles brodé, mais de toutes mes Larmes!  
embroidered not with Pearls, but with all my Tears!

**16** Ta Robe, ce sera mon Désir, frémissant,  
Your Robe — it will be my Desire, quivering,

**17** Onduleux, mon Désir qui monte et qui descend,  
undulant, my Desire that rises and falls,

**18** Aux pointes se balance, aux vallons se repose,  
on the peaks it sways, in the hollows it rests,
> Pronominal verbs + fronted phrases: «se balancer» = 'to sway, swing' and «se reposer» = 'to rest' — both reflexive, the Desire moving of its own accord. The adverbial phrases are fronted («Aux pointes se balance»), so the subject «mon Désir» from the line before is understood: '[it] sways on the peaks, rests in the hollows.'

**19** Et revêt d'un baiser tout ton corps blanc et rose.  
and clothes with a kiss all your body, white and pink.

**20** Je te ferai de mon Respect de beaux Souliers  
I will make you, out of my Respect, fair Slippers

**21** De satin, par tes pieds divins humiliés,  
of satin, humbled by your divine feet,

**22** Qui, les emprisonnant dans une molle étreinte  
which, imprisoning them in a soft embrace,

**23** Comme un moule fidèle en garderont l'empreinte.  
like a faithful mold will keep their imprint.

**24** Si je ne puis, malgré tout mon art diligent  
If I cannot, despite all my diligent art,
> «puis» — literary «je peux»: «puis» is the literary first-person of «pouvoir» ('to be able'), used instead of «peux» especially after «je» in elevated or interrogative style. «Si je ne puis» = 'if I cannot'; it sets up the concession that follows — failing a silver footstool, he will give the Serpent instead.

**25** Pour Marchepied tailler une Lune d'argent  
carve for a Footstool a moon of silver,

**26** Je mettrai le Serpent qui me mord les entrailles  
I will set the Serpent that gnaws my entrails

**27** Sous tes talons, afin que tu foules et railles  
beneath your heels, so that you may trample and mock
> «afin que» + subjunctive: «afin que» ('so that, in order that') always governs the subjunctive of purpose. «foules» and «railles» are present subjunctives of «fouler» ('to tread, trample') and «railler» ('to mock, jeer at') — 'so that you may trample and mock'. The image is the Virgin crushing the serpent underfoot.

**28** Reine victorieuse et féconde en rachats  
Queen victorious and fertile in redemptions,

**29** Ce monstre tout gonflé de haine et de crachats.  
that monster all swollen with hatred and with spittle.

**30** Tu verras mes Pensers, rangés comme les Cierges  
You will see my Thoughts, ranged like the Candles
> penser (m.) / cierge: «un penser» is an archaic, poetic masculine noun for 'a thought' (alongside the everyday «une pensée»). «un cierge» is a tall church candle, the kind set burning before an altar — so his thoughts are arrayed like votive tapers before the «Reine des Vierges».

**31** Devant l'autel fleuri de la Reine des Vierges  
before the flowered altar of the Queen of Virgins,

**32** Etoilant de reflets le plafond peint en bleu,  
starring with reflections the ceiling painted blue,

**33** Te regarder toujours avec des yeux de feu;  
to gaze at you forever with eyes of fire;

**34** Et comme tout en moi te chérit et t'admire,  
and since all in me cherishes you and admires you,

**35** Tout se fera Benjoin, Encens, Oliban, Myrrhe,  
all will turn to Benzoin, Incense, Frankincense, Myrrh,
> benjoin / oliban: «le benjoin» is benzoin, a sweet balsamic resin; «l'oliban» is olibanum, the church name for frankincense. With «Encens» and «Myrrhe», the line lists four aromatic resins burned as incense — everything in him will be consumed into fragrant smoke rising toward the idol.

**36** Et sans cesse vers toi, sommet blanc et neigeux,  
and ceaselessly toward you, white and snowy summit,

**37** En Vapeurs montera mon Esprit orageux.  
in Vapors will rise my stormy Spirit.


**38** Enfin, pour compléter ton rôle de Marie,  
At last, to complete your role as Mary,

**39** Et pour mêler l'amour avec la barbarie,  
and to mingle love together with barbarity,

**40** Volupté noire! des sept Péchés capitaux,  
black Voluptuousness! out of the seven Deadly Sins,

**41** Bourreau plein de remords, je ferai sept Couteaux  
an executioner full of remorse, I will make seven Knives

**42** Bien affilés, et comme un jongleur insensible,  
well whetted, and like an unfeeling juggler,

**43** Prenant le plus profond de ton amour pour cible,  
taking the deepest of your love for a target,

**44** Je les planterai tous dans ton Coeur pantelant,  
I will plant them all in your panting Heart,

**45** Dans ton Coeur sanglotant, dans ton Coeur ruisselant!  
in your sobbing Heart, in your streaming Heart!

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Source text: public domain (Charles Baudelaire, d. 1867). English translation: © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC — original draft, pending editorial review.