# L'Invitation au voyage · Invitation to the Voyage

Les Fleurs du mal · Charles Baudelaire · Spleen and Ideal

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/l-invitation-au-voyage. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/l-invitation-au-voyage.json.

**1** Mon enfant, ma soeur,  
My child, my sister,

**2** Songe à la douceur  
dream of the sweetness
> songer à + noun: «songer» = 'to dream, to muse', and it governs «à» before its object: «songer à quelque chose» = 'to dream of / think upon something'. The imperative «Songe à la douceur» opens the whole poem as a soft command — 'dream of the sweetness…' — that the rest of the stanza unrolls.

**3** D'aller là-bas vivre ensemble!  
of going off to live there together!
> là-bas: «là-bas» = 'over there, yonder' — a place pointed at from a distance, never named. This unnamed «là-bas» is the imagined country (often read as Holland) toward which the whole poem reaches; it stays a destination of longing rather than a fact.

**4** Aimer à loisir,  
To love at leisure,
> à loisir: «à loisir» = 'at leisure, at one's ease, taking all the time one wants'. Paired with the bare infinitive «Aimer», it frames love as unhurried — an act with no clock on it, in keeping with the poem's slow, balanced calm.

**5** Aimer et mourir  
to love and to die

**6** Au pays qui te ressemble!  
in the land that resembles you!
> ressembler à: «ressembler» takes «à» ('to resemble, to look like'), and the object is the pronoun «te» ('you'). «le pays qui te ressemble» = 'the land that resembles you' — the country and the beloved are folded into one image, each a likeness of the other.

**7** Les soleils mouillés  
The watery suns

**8** De ces ciels brouillés  
of those clouded skies
> brouillé: «brouillé» = 'blurred, muddled, overcast' (from «brouiller», 'to mix up, to cloud'). «ciels brouillés» are misty, indistinct skies; the diffuse, rain-soaked light is what gives these «soleils mouillés» ('watery suns') their charm for the poet.

**9** Pour mon esprit ont les charmes  
hold for my spirit the charms,

**10** Si mystérieux  
so mysterious,

**11** De tes traîtres yeux,  
of your treacherous eyes,

**12** Brillant à travers leurs larmes.  
shining through their tears.


**13** Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,  
There, all is order and beauty,
> ne … que (restrictive 'only'): «ne … que» is not a negation but the restrictive 'only / nothing but'. «tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté» = 'everything is nothing but order and beauty', i.e. 'there is only order and beauty'. The refrain returns three times, each repeating this serene 'only'.

**14** Luxe, calme et volupté.  
luxury, calm, and voluptuous pleasure.
> volupté (f.): «volupté» = 'sensual delight, voluptuous pleasure' — a richer, more bodily word than English 'pleasure'. Set beside «calme» and «luxe», it names the sensuous ease that is the poem's whole promise; Matisse later borrowed «Luxe, calme et volupté» as a painting title.


**15** Des meubles luisants,  
Gleaming furniture,

**16** Polis par les ans,  
polished by the years,
> Past participle + «par» (passive): «Polis» is the past participle of «polir» ('to polish'), agreeing in the masculine plural with «meubles». «par les ans» names the agent: 'polished by the years'. It is a reduced passive — 'furniture (that has been) polished by the years' — giving the room its worn, time-burnished glow.

**17** Décoreraient notre chambre;  
would adorn our room;
> Conditional mood: «Décoreraient» is the conditional of «décorer» ('to decorate, adorn'): 'would adorn'. From here the stanza stays in the conditional — «parlerait», 'would speak' — because the whole room is imagined, not real: this is the furnishing of a daydream.

**18** Les plus rares fleurs  
the rarest flowers

**19** Mêlant leurs odeurs  
mingling their scents

**20** Aux vagues senteurs de l'ambre,  
with the faint perfumes of amber,

**21** Les riches plafonds,  
the rich ceilings,

**22** Les miroirs profonds,  
the deep mirrors,

**23** La splendeur orientale,  
the oriental splendor,

**24** Tout y parlerait  
everything there would speak
> The pronoun «y»: «y» = 'there, in that place', standing in for «dans notre chambre». «Tout y parlerait» = 'everything there would speak'. The objects of the room are imagined as quietly addressing the soul in its own «douce langue natale» — its sweet native tongue.

**25** À l'âme en secret  
to the soul in secret

**26** Sa douce langue natale.  
its sweet native tongue.


**27** Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,  
There, all is order and beauty,

**28** Luxe, calme et volupté.  
luxury, calm, and voluptuous pleasure.


**29** Vois sur ces canaux  
See, upon these canals,

**30** Dormir ces vaisseaux  
those vessels sleeping,
> Verb of perception + infinitive: After a verb of perception like «voir» ('to see'), French uses a bare infinitive where English often uses '-ing'. «Vois … dormir ces vaisseaux» = 'See those vessels sleeping' (literally 'see those vessels sleep'). The infinitive «Dormir» is held back to the line's start, suspending the ships in their drowsing stillness.

**31** Dont l'humeur est vagabonde;  
whose temper is given to wandering;
> The relative «dont»: «dont» means 'whose / of which' — a relative that carries the sense of «de». «les vaisseaux dont l'humeur est vagabonde» = 'the vessels whose temper is roving'. «humeur» here is 'disposition, mood', and «vagabonde» ('vagabond, roving') gives the ships a restless, wandering character.

**32** C'est pour assouvir  
It is to satisfy
> assouvir: «assouvir» = 'to sate, to gratify, to slake' a hunger or desire — stronger than plain 'satisfy'. «pour assouvir ton moindre désir» = 'to slake your least desire': the ships have come from the ends of the earth to feed even the smallest of the beloved's wishes.

**33** Ton moindre désir  
your least desire,

**34** Qu'ils viennent du bout du monde.  
that they come from the ends of the earth.

**35** — Les soleils couchants  
— The setting suns

**36** Revêtent les champs,  
clothe the fields,
> revêtir: «revêtir» = 'to clothe, to dress, to robe (in)'; the present tense «revêtent» = 'they clothe'. The setting suns 'clothe' the fields, canals, and whole town «D'hyacinthe et d'or» — in hyacinth and gold — dressing the landscape as if in rich fabric.

**37** Les canaux, la ville entière,  
the canals, the whole town,

**38** D'hyacinthe et d'or;  
in hyacinth and gold;

**39** Le monde s'endort  
the world falls asleep
> s'endormir (pronominal): «s'endormir» is the pronominal verb 'to fall asleep' (the reflexive «se» marks the change of state); «endormir» alone means 'to put to sleep'. «Le monde s'endort» = 'the world falls asleep', drifting off on its own «Dans une chaude lumière» — in a warm light.

**40** Dans une chaude lumière.  
in a warm light.


**41** Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,  
There, all is order and beauty,

**42** Luxe, calme et volupté.  
luxury, calm, and voluptuous pleasure.

---

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