# Le Crépuscule du soir · Evening Twilight

Les Fleurs du mal · Charles Baudelaire · Parisian Scenes

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/le-crepuscule-du-soir. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/le-crepuscule-du-soir.json.

**1** Voici le soir charmant, ami du criminel;  
Here is the charming evening, friend of the criminal;
> Voici = 'here is': «voici» (from «vois ici», 'see here') presents something close at hand or just arriving: «Voici le soir» = 'Here is the evening'. It needs no verb 'to be' — the poem opens by holding the dusk up to us, already named «ami du criminel».

**2** Il vient comme un complice, à pas de loup; le ciel  
It comes like an accomplice, on wolf's feet; the sky
> à pas de loup (idiom): «à pas de loup» — literally 'with a wolf's tread' — is a set phrase meaning 'stealthily, on tiptoe'. Paired with «comme un complice», it makes the evening sneak in like a partner in crime, silent and predatory.

**3** Se ferme lentement comme une grande alcôve,  
Closes slowly like a great alcove,
> Pronominal «se fermer»: «se fermer» is the pronominal form, 'to close (itself)', used where English says the sky 'closes' on its own: «le ciel se ferme lentement» = 'the sky slowly closes'. The reflexive «se» turns shutting into something the sky does to itself, like an «alcôve» drawing its curtains.

**4** Et l'homme impatient se change en bête fauve.  
And impatient man changes into a wild beast.
> bête fauve (f.): A «bête fauve» is a wild, tawny beast of prey — «fauve» names both the color and the savagery of big cats. «se change en bête fauve» = 'turns into a wild beast': nightfall sets free the animal that daylight kept caged in man.


**5** Ô soir, aimable soir, désiré par celui  
O evening, kind evening, longed for by the one

**6** Dont les bras, sans mentir, peuvent dire: Aujourd'hui  
Whose arms, without lying, can say: Today
> Relative «dont» = 'whose': «dont» is the relative pronoun standing for «de qui / de quoi»; here it renders the possessive 'whose'. «celui dont les bras... peuvent dire» = 'the one whose arms can say' — the honest laborer, whose tired arms vouch for an honest day.

**7** Nous avons travaillé! — C'est le soir qui soulage  
We have worked! — It is the evening that soothes

**8** Les esprits que dévore une douleur sauvage,  
The minds that a savage sorrow devours,
> Inverted relative clause: In «les esprits que dévore une douleur sauvage», «que» is the direct object and the subject «une douleur sauvage» comes after the verb — a poetic inversion. Untangled: 'the minds that a savage sorrow devours'. French often delays a heavy subject like this in relative clauses.

**9** Le savant obstiné dont le front s'alourdit,  
The stubborn scholar whose brow grows heavy,

**10** Et l'ouvrier courbé qui regagne son lit.  
And the bent workman who regains his bed.

**11** Cependant des démons malsains dans l'atmosphère  
Meanwhile unwholesome demons in the atmosphere

**12** S'éveillent lourdement, comme des gens d'affaire,  
Wake heavily, like men of business,

**13** Et cognent en volant les volets et l'auvent.  
And knock as they fly against the shutters and the awning.
> Gerund «en volant»: «en volant» is the gérondif — «en» plus the present participle of «voler» (to fly) — marking action done at the same time: 'while flying, as they fly'. The demons «cognent en volant les volets» = 'knock against the shutters as they fly'.

**14** À travers les lueurs que tourmente le vent  
Through the glimmers that the wind torments

**15** La Prostitution s'allume dans les rues;  
Prostitution lights up in the streets;
> Personification; pronominal «s'allumer»: Baudelaire capitalizes «La Prostitution» as a personified power, like «L'Émeute» elsewhere. The pronominal «s'allumer», 'to light up / catch fire', makes it kindle of its own accord: «s'allume dans les rues» = 'lights itself up in the streets', the lamps and the trade flaring together.

**16** Comme une fourmilière elle ouvre ses issues;  
Like an anthill it opens its outlets;

**17** Partout elle se fraye un occulte chemin,  
Everywhere it cuts itself a hidden path,
> se frayer un chemin (idiom): «se frayer un chemin» means 'to clear / force a way through' for oneself. «elle se fraye un occulte chemin» = 'it cuts itself a hidden path'; «occulte» is secret, concealed — the vice working its way unseen through the city.

**18** Ainsi que l'ennemi qui tente un coup de main;  
Just like the enemy who attempts a surprise raid;
> coup de main (military): In its military sense a «coup de main» is a sudden surprise attack or raid (not the everyday 'helping hand'). «ainsi que l'ennemi qui tente un coup de main» = 'like the enemy attempting a surprise raid' — vice infiltrating the city as a foe storms a position.

**19** Elle remue au sein de la cité de fange  
It stirs in the heart of the city of mire

**20** Comme un ver qui dérobe à l'Homme ce qu'il mange.  
Like a worm that steals from Man what he eats.
> «dérober qqch à qqn»: «dérober» is to steal or filch, and the victim is marked with «à»: «dérober quelque chose à quelqu'un» = 'to steal something from someone'. «un ver qui dérobe à l'Homme ce qu'il mange» = 'a worm that steals from Man what he eats'.

**21** On entend çà et là les cuisines siffler,  
Here and there one hears the kitchens hissing,
> çà et là (idiom): «çà et là» means 'here and there, in scattered places'. The «çà» (with grave accent) is an old adverb of place, distinct from «ça» (that). «On entend çà et là...» = 'Here and there one hears...' — a sweep of city sounds opening the night's catalogue.

**22** Les théâtres glapir, les orchestres ronfler;  
The theaters yelping, the orchestras droning;

**23** Les tables d'hôte, dont le jeu fait les délices,  
The common tables, whose delight is gambling,

**24** S'emplissent de catins et d'escrocs, leurs complices,  
Fill up with harlots and swindlers, their accomplices,

**25** Et les voleurs, qui n'ont ni trêve ni merci,  
And the thieves, who have neither truce nor mercy,
> ne ... ni ... ni: «ne ... ni ... ni» links two negated nouns: 'neither ... nor ...'. After «ni ... ni» the indefinite article drops, so «n'ont ni trêve ni merci» = 'have neither truce nor mercy'. The thieves neither rest nor spare anyone.

**26** Vont bientôt commencer leur travail, eux aussi,  
Will soon begin their work, they too,

**27** Et forcer doucement les portes et les caisses  
And gently force the doors and the strongboxes

**28** Pour vivre quelques jours et vêtir leurs maîtresses.  
To live a few days and to clothe their mistresses.


**29** Recueille-toi, mon âme, en ce grave moment,  
Collect yourself, my soul, in this solemn hour,
> Pronominal imperative «se recueillir»: «se recueillir» is the pronominal verb 'to gather oneself, to turn inward in meditation'. In the affirmative imperative the reflexive pronoun follows and «te» becomes «toi» with a hyphen: «Recueille-toi» = 'Collect yourself, withdraw into yourself' — the poet turning from the street to his own soul.

**30** Et ferme ton oreille à ce rugissement.  
And close your ear to this roaring.

**31** C'est l'heure où les douleurs des malades s'aigrissent!  
It is the hour when the sufferings of the sick grow sharper!

**32** La sombre Nuit les prend à la gorge; ils finissent  
Dark Night takes them by the throat; they finish
> prendre à la gorge (idiom): «prendre quelqu'un à la gorge» is 'to seize by the throat', literally and figuratively to grip and overwhelm. «La sombre Nuit les prend à la gorge» = 'Dark Night takes them by the throat' — Night personified as a strangler closing on the sick.

**33** Leur destinée et vont vers le gouffre commun;  
Their destiny and go toward the common gulf;

**34** L'hôpital se remplit de leurs soupirs. — Plus d'un  
The hospital fills with their sighs. — More than one
> Plus d'un (+ singular verb): «plus d'un» means 'more than one' and, despite the sense, takes a singular verb: «Plus d'un / Ne viendra plus...» = 'More than one will no longer come...'. It softens a grim plural into a single shadowy figure who will not return.

**35** Ne viendra plus chercher la soupe parfumée,  
Will no longer come to seek the fragrant soup,
> ne ... plus = 'no longer': «ne ... plus» means 'no longer, not anymore'. Spanning the line break, «Plus d'un / Ne viendra plus chercher la soupe» = 'More than one will no longer come to seek the soup' — the dead who will never again sit down by a warm fire.

**36** Au coin du feu, le soir, auprès d'une âme aimée.  
By the fireside, in the evening, beside a beloved soul.


**37** Encore la plupart n'ont-ils jamais connu  
And yet most of them have never even known
> Inversion after initial «Encore»: When a sentence opens with certain adverbs like «encore» ('moreover, and yet'), French inverts subject and verb: «n'ont-ils jamais connu» instead of «ils n'ont jamais connu». The «-t-ils» tag is this inversion, not a question: 'And yet most of them have never known...'.

**38** La douceur du foyer et n'ont jamais vécu!  
The sweetness of home and have never lived!

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