# Ciel brouillé · Overcast Sky

Les Fleurs du mal · Charles Baudelaire · Spleen and Ideal

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/ciel-brouille. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/ciel-brouille.json.

**1** On dirait ton regard d'une vapeur couvert;  
Your gaze, one would say, is veiled with a mist;
> «on dirait» (one would say): «On dirait» is the conditional of «dire» with the impersonal subject «on»: literally 'one would say', i.e. 'it looks like, you'd think'. It opens the poem on a note of guarded conjecture — the speaker is reading a face he cannot quite fix — and sets up the whole poem as a string of comparisons («tu rappelles», «tu ressembles»).

**2** Ton oeil mystérieux (est-il bleu, gris ou vert?)  
Your mysterious eye (is it blue, gray, or green?)
> Inversion in a question «est-il…?»: «est-il bleu, gris ou vert?» inverts verb and pronoun — «est-il» rather than «il est» — to form a direct question, here folded into a parenthesis. The uncertainty of the color mirrors the «ciel brouillé» of the title: the eye, like an overcast sky, will not settle into one hue.

**3** Alternativement tendre, rêveur, cruel,  
By turns tender, dreaming, cruel,

**4** Réfléchit l'indolence et la pâleur du ciel.  
reflects the indolence and the pallor of the sky.


**5** Tu rappelles ces jours blancs, tièdes et voilés,  
You recall those white days, mild and veiled,
> «rappeler» (to call to mind): Here «rappeler» means 'to bring to mind, to be reminiscent of', not the reflexive «se rappeler» ('to remember'). «Tu rappelles ces jours blancs» = 'You call to mind those white days'. The woman is likened to overcast weather — «blancs, tièdes et voilés», pale, lukewarm, and veiled.

**6** Qui font se fondre en pleurs les coeurs ensorcelés,  
that melt bewitched hearts into tears,
> Causative «faire» + pronominal infinitive: «font se fondre… les coeurs» is the causative «faire» + infinitive: 'make the hearts melt'. The infinitive is the pronominal «se fondre» ('to melt, dissolve'), so its reflexive «se» is kept even under «faire». Word order is inverted for the verse — read it as «(qui) font les coeurs ensorcelés se fondre en pleurs», 'which make the bewitched hearts dissolve into tears'.

**7** Quand, agités d'un mal inconnu qui les tord,  
when, shaken by an unknown ill that wrings them,

**8** Les nerfs trop éveillés raillent l'esprit qui dort.  
the over-wakened nerves mock the sleeping mind.
> «railler» (to mock): «railler» = 'to mock, jeer at, taunt'. «Les nerfs trop éveillés raillent l'esprit qui dort» — the over-wakened nerves jeer at the mind that sleeps — sets raw nervous excitement against a numbed intellect, the unease beneath these languid 'white days'.


**9** Tu ressembles parfois à ces beaux horizons  
You resemble at times those lovely horizons
> «ressembler à» (to resemble): «ressembler» takes the preposition «à» before its object: «tu ressembles à ces beaux horizons» = 'you resemble those lovely horizons'. There is no direct object as in English; the thing resembled is introduced by «à». This is the third comparison in a row, after «on dirait» and «tu rappelles».

**10** Qu'allument les soleils des brumeuses saisons...  
that the suns of misty seasons set ablaze...
> Inverted relative «que… les soleils»: «que» is the direct object of «allument», whose subject «les soleils des brumeuses saisons» follows the verb: 'that the suns of misty seasons light up'. French freely inverts subject and verb in a relative clause when the object «que» comes first — keep «les soleils» as the doer, «ces beaux horizons» as the thing set aglow.

**11** Comme tu resplendis, paysage mouillé  
How you shine, rain-soaked landscape

**12** Qu'enflamment les rayons tombant d'un ciel brouillé!  
that the rays falling from an overcast sky set aflame!
> «brouillé» / «un ciel brouillé»: «brouillé» is the past participle of «brouiller», 'to blur, muddle, cloud over'; «un ciel brouillé» is an overcast, hazy sky. The title-phrase lands here at the volta: the woman, like a rain-soaked landscape lit by rays through cloud, is most radiant precisely when the sky is troubled.


**13** Ô femme dangereuse, ô séduisants climats!  
O dangerous woman, O seductive climates!

**14** Adorerai-je aussi ta neige et vos frimas,  
Shall I adore your snow and your hoarfrosts too,
> Future + inversion «adorerai-je?»: «Adorerai-je» is the future of «adorer» inverted to ask a question — 'shall I (also) adore…?'. Note the slide from «ta neige» (familiar «tu») to «vos frimas» (formal «vous») in one line: the woman and the «séduisants climats» merge, so the possessives blur between the lover and the weather she stands for. «frimas» (m. pl.) is poetic for hoarfrost, wintry rime.

**15** Et saurai-je tirer de l'implacable hiver  
and shall I know how to draw from implacable winter
> «savoir» + infinitive (know how to): «savoir» before an infinitive means 'to know how to, to be able to': «saurai-je tirer…?» = 'shall I know how to draw…?'. Again inverted as a question and parallel to «adorerai-je». The verb governs «tirer… des plaisirs» across the line break — 'draw out pleasures' from «l'implacable hiver».

**16** Des plaisirs plus aigus que la glace et le fer?  
pleasures keener than ice and iron?

---

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