# Le Vin du solitaire · The Solitary Man's Wine

Les Fleurs du mal · Charles Baudelaire · Wine

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/le-vin-du-solitaire. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/le-vin-du-solitaire.json.

**1** Le regard singulier d'une femme galante  
The singular glance of a woman of pleasure
> une femme galante: «galant(e)» normally means 'gallant, courtly', but «une femme galante» is a fixed, ironic phrase for a woman of easy virtue — a courtesan or kept woman. The polite surface of the words hides the sense, which is part of Baudelaire's effect here.

**2** Qui se glisse vers nous comme le rayon blanc  
That slips toward us like the white ray
> se glisser: «se glisser» is the pronominal verb 'to slip, slide, glide in'. The reflexive «se» gives the motion a stealthy, self-propelled quality: the glance «se glisse vers nous» — slides toward us on its own, like the moonbeam in the simile that follows.

**3** Que la lune onduleuse envoie au lac tremblant,  
That the undulating moon sends to the trembling lake,

**4** Quand elle y veut baigner sa beauté nonchalante;  
When she would bathe her nonchalant beauty there;
> The pronoun «y»: «y» is the adverbial pronoun 'there / in it', standing in for «dans le lac» from the line before. «elle y veut baigner» = 'she wishes to bathe there'. The «elle» is «la lune», so the moon dips her beauty into the lake's reflection.


**5** Le dernier sac d'écus dans les doigts d'un joueur;  
The last sack of coins in a gambler's fingers;
> un écu: «l'écu» was an old French silver (once gold) coin; «un sac d'écus» is a bag of money. «le dernier sac d'écus» — 'the last bag of coins' — is the gambler's final stake, the all-or-nothing thrill the poem will weigh against wine.

**6** Un baiser libertin de la maigre Adeline;  
A libertine kiss from gaunt Adeline;

**7** Les sons d'une musique énervante et câline,  
The strains of a music unnerving and caressing,
> énervant(e) — a false friend: Beware: «énervant» is not English 'enervating' (weakening). In French it means 'unnerving, on edge, getting on one's nerves'. Paired with «câline» (coaxing, caressing), it gives the music a teasing, fretful charm that both irritates and soothes.

**8** Semblable au cri lointain de l'humaine douleur,  
Like the distant cry of human sorrow,


**9** Tout cela ne vaut pas, ô bouteille profonde,  
All of that is not worth, O deep bottle,
> The pivot: «ne vaut pas»: «valoir» means 'to be worth'; «ne vaut pas» = 'is not worth'. After eight lines of seductive pleasures, «tout cela ne vaut pas…» — 'all of that is not worth…' — turns the whole sonnet on its hinge: nothing listed can match what the bottle gives.

**10** Les baumes pénétrants que ta panse féconde  
The penetrating balms that your fertile belly
> la panse: «la panse» is the paunch or belly — here the rounded body of the bottle. Calling it «féconde» (fertile, fruitful) makes the bottle a mother whose «panse» carries the «baumes pénétrants», the penetrating balms, in her swollen middle.

**11** Garde au coeur altéré du poète pieux;  
Keeps for the parched heart of the pious poet;
> altéré — thirsty: «altéré» is a false friend: not 'altered' but 'parched, athirst'. «le coeur altéré du poète» = 'the poet's thirsting heart'. The word keeps the wine theme alive — the heart itself is dry and craving drink.


**12** Tu lui verses l'espoir, la jeunesse et la vie,  
You pour out for him hope, youth, and life,
> Indirect object «lui»: «lui» is the indirect object pronoun 'to/for him', standing for the poet. «tu lui verses l'espoir» = 'you pour out hope for him'. The poet addresses the bottle as «tu», so the wine literally pours hope, youth, and life into him.

**13** — Et l'orgueil, ce trésor de toute gueuserie,  
— And pride, that treasure of all beggary,
> la gueuserie: «la gueuserie» is beggary, destitution — the condition of «le gueux», the beggar or wretch. The paradox «l'orgueil, ce trésor de toute gueuserie» — 'pride, the treasure of all beggary' — makes wine-born pride the one riches the destitute can still possess.

**14** Qui nous rend triomphants et semblables aux Dieux!  
That makes us triumphant and like the Gods!
> rendre + adjective: «rendre» followed by an adjective means 'to make (someone) become' a certain way — distinct from «faire» + verb. «qui nous rend triomphants» = 'which makes us triumphant'. The adjectives «triomphants» and «semblables» agree with «nous», the people the wine transforms.

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