# Bénédiction · Benediction

Les Fleurs du mal · Charles Baudelaire · Spleen and Ideal

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/benediction. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/benediction.json.

**1** Lorsque, par un décret des puissances suprêmes,  
When, by a decree of the supreme powers,

**2** Le Poète apparaît en ce monde ennuyé,  
The Poet appears in this bored world,

**3** Sa mère épouvantée et pleine de blasphèmes  
His mother, terrified and full of blasphemies,

**4** Crispe ses poings vers Dieu, qui la prend en pitié:  
Clenches her fists toward God, who takes pity on her:
> prendre en pitié: A fixed idiom: «prendre qqn. en pitié» = 'to take pity on someone'. Literally 'to take someone into pity'. Here «qui la prend en pitié» = 'who takes pity on her'.


**5** — «Ah! que n'ai-je mis bas tout un noeud de vipères,  
— "Ah! why did I not spawn a whole knot of vipers,
> «que ne» + inversion = a wish or reproach: «que n'ai-je…» is an exclamatory turn meaning 'why did I not…' / 'would that I had…'. The «ne» is not a true negative here; «que ne» + inverted verb expresses regret or longing. «mettre bas» = 'to give birth' (of an animal).

**6** Plutôt que de nourrir cette dérision!  
Rather than nourish this object of derision!

**7** Maudite soit la nuit aux plaisirs éphémères  
Cursed be the night of fleeting pleasures
> Subjunctive of malediction: «soit» is the present subjunctive of «être», used here for a curse: «maudite soit la nuit» = 'cursed be the night'. The verb comes before its subject, a formula for solemn wishes (cf. 'blessed be…').

**8** Où mon ventre a conçu mon expiation!  
When my womb conceived my expiation!


**9** Puisque tu m'as choisie entre toutes les femmes  
Since you have chosen me from among all women
> Past participle agreement: With «avoir», the past participle agrees with a preceding direct object. Here «m'» (the mother, feminine) precedes «choisi», so it takes a feminine «-e»: «tu m'as choisie» = 'you have chosen me'.

**10** Pour être le dégoût de mon triste mari,  
To be the disgust of my sorrowful husband,

**11** Et que je ne puis pas rejeter dans les flammes,  
And since I cannot cast back into the flames,
> puis = literary 'je peux': «je puis» is the elevated, literary form of «je peux» ('I can'), from «pouvoir». «Et que…» continues the «Puisque» from the line above: 'and since I cannot…'.

**12** Comme un billet d'amour, ce monstre rabougri,  
Like a love-note, this stunted monster,


**13** Je ferai rejaillir ta haine qui m'accable  
I will make your hatred that crushes me rebound
> Causative «faire» + infinitive: «faire» + infinitive means 'to make / cause (something) to happen'. «je ferai rejaillir ta haine» = 'I will make your hatred splash back / rebound'. «rejaillir» = to spurt or splash back.

**14** Sur l'instrument maudit de tes méchancetés,  
Upon the accursed instrument of your cruelties,

**15** Et je tordrai si bien cet arbre misérable,  
And I will twist this wretched tree so well,

**16** Qu'il ne pourra pousser ses boutons empestés!»  
That it will never sprout its pestilent buds!"


**17** Elle ravale ainsi l'écume de sa haine,  
So she swallows back the foam of her hatred,
> ravaler: «ravaler» = to swallow back, to choke down (something one would spit out). «ravaler l'écume de sa haine» — 'to swallow back the foam of her hatred' — pictures rage gulped down rather than spoken.

**18** Et, ne comprenant pas les desseins éternels,  
And, not understanding the eternal designs,

**19** Elle-même prépare au fond de la Géhenne  
She herself prepares, in the depths of Gehenna,
> Gehenna: «la Géhenne» (Gehenna) is a biblical name for hell, from the valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem. The mother, blind to God's plan, unwittingly builds the pyres of her own damnation.

**20** Les bûchers consacrés aux crimes maternels.  
The pyres consecrated to a mother's crimes.


**21** Pourtant, sous la tutelle invisible d'un Ange,  
Yet, under the invisible guardianship of an Angel,

**22** L'Enfant déshérité s'enivre de soleil  
The disinherited Child grows drunk on sunlight
> Reflexive verb + «de»: «s'enivrer de qqch.» = 'to get drunk on / intoxicated with something'. The reflexive «se» makes it 'to make oneself drunk'; «de soleil» names what intoxicates him. It returns four lines later as «s'enivre en chantant».

**23** Et dans tout ce qu'il boit et dans tout ce qu'il mange  
And in all that he drinks and in all that he eats

**24** Retrouve l'ambroisie et le nectar vermeil.  
He finds again ambrosia and the crimson nectar.
> Ambrosia and nectar: In Greek myth «l'ambroisie» (ambrosia) is the food and «le nectar» the drink of the gods, conferring immortality. «vermeil» = bright red, crimson. The blessed Child tastes the divine in ordinary bread and water.


**25** Il joue avec le vent, cause avec le nuage,  
He plays with the wind, chats with the cloud,
> causer = to chat: «causer (avec)» means 'to chat, to talk' — a false friend, not 'to cause'. «cause avec le nuage» = 'chats with the cloud'.

**26** Et s'enivre en chantant du chemin de la croix;  
And, singing, grows drunk on the way of the cross;

**27** Et l'Esprit qui le suit dans son pèlerinage  
And the Spirit that follows him on his pilgrimage

**28** Pleure de le voir gai comme un oiseau des bois.  
Weeps to see him merry as a bird of the woods.


**29** Tous ceux qu'il veut aimer l'observent avec crainte,  
All those he would love watch him with dread,

**30** Ou bien, s'enhardissant de sa tranquillité,  
Or else, emboldened by his calm,
> Reflexive present participle: «s'enhardir» = 'to grow bold, to take courage' (from «hardi», bold). The present participle «s'enhardissant de…» = 'growing bold from / emboldened by…'; «de sa tranquillité» names the cause.

**31** Cherchent à qui saura lui tirer une plainte,  
Vie to see who can wring a complaint from him,

**32** Et font sur lui l'essai de leur férocité.  
And test their ferocity upon him.


**33** Dans le pain et le vin destinés à sa bouche  
Into the bread and wine meant for his mouth

**34** Ils mêlent de la cendre avec d'impurs crachats;  
They mix ash with foul spittle;

**35** Avec hypocrisie ils jettent ce qu'il touche,  
Hypocritically they throw away whatever he touches,

**36** Et s'accusent d'avoir mis leurs pieds dans ses pas.  
And accuse themselves of having stepped in his footprints.


**37** Sa femme va criant sur les places publiques:  
His wife goes crying through the public squares:
> «aller» + present participle: «aller» + a present participle (here «criant») expresses an action drawn out or repeated over time: «va criant» = 'goes about crying / keeps crying'. A literary construction, more vivid than the plain present.

**38** «Puisqu'il me trouve assez belle pour m'adorer,  
"Since he finds me fair enough to adore me,

**39** Je ferai le métier des idoles antiques,  
I will ply the trade of the ancient idols,

**40** Et comme elles je veux me faire redorer;  
And like them I want to have myself regilded;
> «se faire» + infinitive (passive causative): «se faire» + infinitive means 'to have something done to oneself': «me faire redorer» = 'to have myself regilded'. «redorer» = to re-gild, recover in gold leaf, as one restores a gilded idol.


**41** Et je me soûlerai de nard, d'encens, de myrrhe,  
And I will glut myself on spikenard, incense, myrrh,
> Spikenard, incense, myrrh: «nard» (spikenard), «encens» (incense), and «myrrhe» (myrrh) are precious aromatics of biblical worship. «se soûler de» = 'to get drunk on'; the wife craves the sensual trappings of a goddess.

**42** De génuflexions, de viandes et de vins,  
On genuflections, on meats and wines,

**43** Pour savoir si je puis dans un coeur qui m'admire  
To learn whether, in a heart that admires me, I can

**44** Usurper en riant les hommages divins!  
Usurp, laughing, the homage owed to gods!


**45** Et, quand je m'ennuierai de ces farces impies,  
And, when I grow weary of these impious farces,
> s'ennuyer de: «s'ennuyer» is reflexive, 'to be bored'; «s'ennuyer de qqch.» = 'to grow tired/weary of something'. The future «je m'ennuierai» = 'when I shall grow weary…'.

**46** Je poserai sur lui ma frêle et forte main;  
I will lay upon him my frail and forceful hand;

**47** Et mes ongles, pareils aux ongles des harpies,  
And my nails, like the talons of the harpies,

**48** Sauront jusqu'à son coeur se frayer un chemin.  
Will know how to carve their way clear to his heart.
> se frayer un chemin: «se frayer un chemin» = 'to clear / force a path for oneself'. A reflexive idiom: the nails cut their own way through to his heart. «sauront» (future of «savoir») here = 'will know how to'.


**49** Comme un tout jeune oiseau qui tremble et qui palpite,  
Like a fledgling bird that trembles and throbs,

**50** J'arracherai ce coeur tout rouge de son sein,  
I will tear that heart, all red, from his breast,

**51** Et, pour rassasier ma bête favorite  
And, to sate my favorite beast,

**52** Je le lui jetterai par terre avec dédain!»  
I will fling it to the ground before it with disdain!"
> Double object pronouns: Two pronouns stack before the verb: «le» (it = the heart, direct object) and «lui» (to it = the beast, indirect object). The direct object precedes the indirect here, so «je le lui jetterai» = 'I will throw it to it'.


**53** Vers le Ciel, où son oeil voit un trône splendide,  
Toward Heaven, where his eye beholds a splendid throne,

**54** Le Poète serein lève ses bras pieux  
The serene Poet lifts his pious arms

**55** Et les vastes éclairs de son esprit lucide  
And the vast lightning-flashes of his lucid mind

**56** Lui dérobent l'aspect des peuples furieux:  
Hide from him the sight of the raging peoples:
> dérober = to conceal: Beyond 'to steal', «dérober» means 'to hide, screen from view'. «dérober qqch. à qqn.» = 'to hide something from someone'; «lui dérobent l'aspect…» = 'hide the sight from him'. «lui» is the indirect object (from him).


**57** — «Soyez béni, mon Dieu, qui donnez la souffrance  
— "Be blessed, my God, who give suffering
> Imperative of «être» in a blessing: «soyez» is the imperative of «être» (polite 'vous'). «Soyez béni» = 'Be blessed'. The title's «Bénédiction» turns here from the mother's curse to the Poet's benediction of God.

**58** Comme un divin remède à nos impuretés  
As a divine remedy for our impurities

**59** Et comme la meilleure et la plus pure essence  
And as the finest and purest essence

**60** Qui prépare les forts aux saintes voluptés!  
That readies the strong for holy raptures!
> volupté (f.): «volupté» = sensual delight, rapture. Pairing it with «saintes» ('holy') fuses the sacred and the sensual — a signature Baudelairean tension. «préparer qqn. à qqch.» = 'to make someone ready for'.


**61** Je sais que vous gardez une place au Poète  
I know that you keep a place for the Poet

**62** Dans les rangs bienheureux des saintes Légions,  
Among the blessed ranks of the holy Legions,

**63** Et que vous l'invitez à l'éternelle fête  
And that you summon him to the eternal feast

**64** Des Trônes, des Vertus, des Dominations.  
Of the Thrones, the Virtues, the Dominions.


**65** Je sais que la douleur est la noblesse unique  
I know that suffering is the one nobility

**66** Où ne mordront jamais la terre et les enfers,  
On which earth and the hells will never bite,

**67** Et qu'il faut pour tresser ma couronne mystique  
And that, to weave my mystic crown, one must
> il faut + infinitive: «il faut» (from «falloir») is impersonal: 'it is necessary / one must'. With an infinitive it states a requirement: «il faut… imposer» = 'one must levy / call upon' (completed in the next line). «tresser» = to braid, weave.

**68** Imposer tous les temps et tous les univers.  
Levy every age and every universe.


**69** Mais les bijoux perdus de l'antique Palmyre,  
But the lost jewels of ancient Palmyra,

**70** Les métaux inconnus, les perles de la mer,  
The unknown metals, the pearls of the sea,

**71** Par votre main montés, ne pourraient pas suffire  
Set by your own hand, could not suffice
> monter = to set (a jewel): «monter» here is the jeweler's sense: 'to set, mount' a stone in metal. «par votre main montés» = 'set by your hand'. The past participle «montés» agrees (masculine plural) with the jewels and metals above.

**72** A ce beau diadème éblouissant et clair;  
For this fair diadem, dazzling and clear;


**73** Car il ne sera fait que de pure lumière,  
For it will be made of nothing but pure light,
> ne… que = only: «ne… que» is a restrictive: 'only, nothing but'. «il ne sera fait que de pure lumière» = 'it will be made only of pure light'. Note «que», not «pas» — this limits rather than negates.

**74** Puisée au foyer saint des rayons primitifs,  
Drawn from the holy hearth of the first rays,
> puiser = to draw (from a source): «puiser» = to draw (water, light) from a source. «puisée au foyer saint» = 'drawn from the holy hearth'. The feminine «-e» agrees with «lumière» (light) in the previous line.

**75** Et dont les yeux mortels, dans leur splendeur entière,  
And of which mortal eyes, in their fullest splendor,
> The relative «dont»: «dont» = 'of which / whose', standing for «de» + a noun. It links back to «pure lumière»: the light of which mortal eyes are only dim mirrors. The clause completes in the final line.

**76** Ne sont que des miroirs obscurcis et plaintifs!»  
Are but dimmed and plaintive mirrors!"

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