# L'Amour du mensonge · The Love of the Lie

Les Fleurs du mal · Charles Baudelaire · Parisian Scenes

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/l-amour-du-mensonge. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/l-amour-du-mensonge.json.

**1** Quand je te vois passer, ô ma chère indolente,  
When I see you pass by, O my dear indolent one,
> indolent(e): «indolent(e)» means 'languid, listless, free of pain or care', from Latin «indolens». Here it is an affectionate address — «ma chère indolente», 'my dear languid one' — naming the woman by her slow, untroubled grace, the «allure harmonieuse et lente» of the next stanza.

**2** Au chant des instruments qui se brise au plafond  
To the song of the instruments that breaks against the ceiling
> Pronominal verb «se briser»: «se briser» is the pronominal form of «briser», 'to break', used here intransitively: 'to break, to shatter' on its own. The music «se brise au plafond» — breaks against the ceiling like a wave — so the relative clause «qui se brise» describes the «chant des instruments» dispersing overhead.

**3** Suspendant ton allure harmonieuse et lente,  
Suspending your bearing, harmonious and slow,

**4** Et promenant l'ennui de ton regard profond;  
And parading the weariness of your deep gaze;
> promener; l'ennui: «promener» is literally 'to walk, to take for a stroll'; «promener l'ennui de ton regard» = 'to parade / carry about the boredom of your gaze'. «l'ennui» is the heavy Baudelairean weariness, here worn and displayed like the woman herself — the present participle «promenant» links it to «Suspendant» in the line above.


**5** Quand je contemple, aux feux du gaz qui le colore,  
When I gaze, by the gaslight that tints it,

**6** Ton front pâle, embelli par un morbide attrait,  
Your pale brow, made lovelier by a morbid charm,
> embellir; morbide; l'attrait: «embellir» is 'to make beautiful, to embellish'; the past participle «embelli» agrees with «ton front» (masculine). «un morbide attrait» = 'a morbid attraction / charm'. The brow is beautified not in spite of but by something sickly — a key Baudelairean paradox, beauty heightened by decay.

**7** Où les torches du soir allument une aurore,  
Where the evening's torches kindle a dawn,

**8** Et tes yeux attirants comme ceux d'un portrait,  
And your eyes, alluring like those of a portrait,
> Demonstrative pronoun «ceux»: «ceux» is the masculine plural demonstrative pronoun, standing in for «les yeux» so it need not be repeated: «tes yeux... comme ceux d'un portrait» = 'your eyes... like those of a portrait'. The comparison is already the poem's warning — her eyes are as beautiful, and as empty of life, as those painted on a canvas.


**9** Je me dis: Qu'elle est belle! et bizarrement fraîche!  
I say to myself: How beautiful she is! and strangely fresh!
> Reflexive «se dire»: «se dire» is the reflexive of «dire», 'to say (to oneself)': «je me dis» = 'I say to myself, I think'. The reflexive pronoun «me» marks the speech as inward — the poet's private admiration — and «Qu'elle est belle!» is the exclamative «que» + adjective, 'how beautiful she is!'.

**10** Le souvenir massif, royale et lourde tour,  
Memory, massive, a royal and heavy tower,
> le souvenir; la tour: «le souvenir» is 'memory, remembrance'; «la tour» is a tower (feminine). The memory she carries is imagined as a «royale et lourde tour» — a royal, heavy tower — crowning her: a weight of the past that makes her seem ripe, «mûr... pour le savant amour», ready for a knowing, practiced love.

**11** La couronne, et son coeur, meurtri comme une pêche,  
Crowns her, and her heart, bruised like a peach,

**12** Est mûr, comme son corps, pour le savant amour.  
Is ripe, like her body, for the knowing love.
> savant; mûr: «savant» means 'learned, skilled, expert', not 'savant' in the English sense; «le savant amour» = 'knowing, practised love'. «mûr» is 'ripe'. Heart and body alike are «mûr... pour le savant amour» — ripened by suffering and memory for a love that is experienced rather than innocent.


**13** Es-tu le fruit d'automne aux saveurs souveraines?  
Are you the autumn fruit of sovereign savors?
> Inversion in questions «Es-tu»: «Es-tu» inverts subject and verb («tu es» → «es-tu») to ask a direct question: 'Are you...?'. This stanza is a chain of such inverted questions — «Es-tu le fruit...? Es-tu vase funèbre...?» — heaping up images the poet projects onto a woman who answers none of them.

**14** Es-tu vase funèbre attendant quelques pleurs,  
Are you a funeral urn awaiting a few tears,
> le vase; funèbre; les pleurs: «un vase funèbre» is a funerary urn or vessel; «funèbre» means 'funereal, of death'. «les pleurs» (always plural here) are tears. The woman may be only an empty urn «attendant quelques pleurs» — waiting to be filled with someone else's grief — one more guess at what, if anything, lies behind her beauty.

**15** Parfum qui fait rêver aux oasis lointaines,  
A perfume that sets one dreaming of far oases,
> Causative «faire» + infinitive: «faire» + infinitive is the causative, 'to make / cause (someone) to do': «un parfum qui fait rêver» = 'a perfume that makes [one] dream'. «rêver à» means 'to dream of'. The scent causes a dreaming of «oasis lointaines», distant oases — a far-off mirage, fitting for a poem about loving an illusion.

**16** Oreiller caressant, ou corbeille de fleurs?  
A caressing pillow, or a basket of flowers?


**17** Je sais qu'il est des yeux, des plus mélancoliques,  
I know there are eyes, of the most melancholy,
> Literary «il est» = «il y a»: «il est» here is the elevated, literary equivalent of «il y a», 'there is / there are': «il est des yeux» = 'there are eyes'. «des plus mélancoliques» is the idiomatic superlative meaning 'of the most melancholy kind / among the most melancholy', in which «des» (= de + les) stays intact — there is no partitive des→de reduction; a learned register suiting the poet's worldly confession.

**18** Qui ne recèlent point de secrets précieux;  
That conceal no precious secrets at all;
> receler; ne... point: «receler» is 'to conceal, to harbour, to hold hidden away' (also 'to receive stolen goods'). «ne... point» is an emphatic, literary 'not at all', stronger than «ne... pas». So «ne recèlent point de secrets précieux» = 'hide no precious secrets whatever' — the beautiful, sad eyes may contain nothing at all.

**19** Beaux écrins sans joyaux, médaillons sans reliques,  
Fair jewel-cases without jewels, lockets without relics,
> l'écrin; le médaillon; la relique: «un écrin» is a case made to hold jewels; «un médaillon» is a locket; «une relique» is a relic, a treasured keepsake. The images are all beautiful containers gone empty — «écrins sans joyaux» (cases without jewels), «médaillons sans reliques» — exactly the woman the poem fears: lovely surface, hollow within.

**20** Plus vides, plus profonds que vous-mêmes, ô Cieux!  
Emptier, deeper than you yourselves, O Heavens!


**21** Mais ne suffit-il pas que tu sois l'apparence,  
But is it not enough that you be the appearance,
> Subjunctive «sois» after «suffire que»: «sois» is the present subjunctive of «être», 'to be'. The impersonal «il suffit que» ('it is enough that') triggers the subjunctive in its clause: «ne suffit-il pas que tu sois l'apparence» = 'is it not enough that you be the appearance?'. The poet asks for nothing but the surface.

**22** Pour réjouir un coeur qui fuit la vérité?  
To gladden a heart that flees the truth?
> fuir; la vérité: «fuir» is 'to flee, to run from' (and can take a direct object: «fuir la vérité» = 'to flee the truth'). «réjouir» is 'to gladden, to delight'. This is the poem's confession: the heart it speaks for is one «qui fuit la vérité», that runs from the truth — content to be charmed by the lovely lie.

**23** Qu'importe ta bêtise ou ton indifférence?  
What does your stupidity or your indifference matter?
> Impersonal «qu'importe»: «qu'importe» is a fixed impersonal turn, «que» + «importer» ('to matter'): 'what does it matter, never mind'. «Qu'importe ta bêtise ou ton indifférence?» = 'What do your stupidity or indifference matter?' — the speaker waves away her emptiness, asking only for the beautiful mask.

**24** Masque ou décor, salut! J'adore ta beauté.  
Mask or stage-set, I salute you! I adore your beauty.
> le masque; le décor; salut: «le masque» is a mask; «le décor» is the painted scenery or stage-set, a façade. «salut!» is a greeting or a hail — here a toast, 'hail! / I salute you!'. The poem ends by openly worshipping the surface: mask or backdrop, real or not, «J'adore ta beauté» — I adore your beauty all the same.

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