# Que diras-tu ce soir, pauvre âme solitaire · What will you say tonight, poor lonely soul

Les Fleurs du mal · Charles Baudelaire · Spleen and Ideal

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/que-diras-tu-ce-soir-pauvre-ame-solitaire. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/que-diras-tu-ce-soir-pauvre-ame-solitaire.json.

**1** Que diras-tu ce soir, pauvre âme solitaire,  
What will you say tonight, poor lonely soul,

**2** Que diras-tu, mon coeur, coeur autrefois flétri,  
what will you say, my heart, heart once withered,
> «flétri» — withered, faded: «flétri» is the past participle of «flétrir», 'to wither, to wilt' (of a flower), and figuratively 'to blight, to dishonor'. «autrefois» = 'formerly, once'. The heart was once a faded, blighted thing — set against «refleuri» ('bloomed again') three lines down, the floral metaphor frames the beloved's gaze as a second spring.

**3** À la très belle, à la très bonne, à la très  
to the very beautiful, to the very good, to the very
> Anaphora and the rejet of «chère»: Three times «à la très …» piles superlative on superlative ('to the very …'), addressing the beloved. The third adjective is held back: «la très» dangles at the line's end and only completes on the next line as «chère». This deliberate break across the line — a rejet — makes the litany strain forward, like a prayer reaching for its last word.

**4** chère,  
dear,

**5** Dont le regard divin t'a soudain refleuri?  
whose divine gaze has suddenly made you bloom again?
> «refleurir» — to flower again: «refleurir» = 'to blossom anew, to flower again' (the prefix «re-» on «fleurir», 'to bloom'). «Dont le regard divin» = 'whose divine gaze', the relative «dont» pointing back to the beloved. Her look revives the «coeur autrefois flétri» — the withered heart blooms once more, closing the flower image of the quatrain.


**6** — Nous mettrons notre orgueil à chanter ses louanges:  
— We shall set our pride on singing her praises:
> «mettre son orgueil à» + infinitive: «mettre son orgueil à faire qch» = 'to take pride in doing something, to make it a point of pride'. The em-dash «—» opening the stanza marks the soul's answer to the question of the first quatrain: rather than fall silent, it will glory in praising her. «chanter ses louanges» = 'to sing her praises'.

**7** Rien ne vaut la douceur de son autorité;  
nothing equals the sweetness of her authority;

**8** Sa chair spirituelle a le parfum des Anges  
her spiritual flesh has the fragrance of the Angels
> «chair» — flesh: «la chair» is 'flesh' (the body, the carnal), usually opposed to the spirit. Yoking it to «spirituelle» — 'spiritual flesh' — is a calculated paradox: in this beloved the carnal and the angelic merge, so that her body carries «le parfum des Anges», the very perfume of the Angels.

**9** Et son oeil nous revêt d'un habit de clarté.  
and her eye clothes us in a garment of light.
> «revêtir quelqu'un de» — to clothe someone in: «revêtir» = 'to clothe, to dress, to robe'; «revêtir qn de qch» = 'to clothe someone in something'. «son oeil nous revêt d'un habit de clarté» = 'her eye clothes us in a garment of light'. The beloved's gaze does not merely shine on us — it dresses us, like a sacred vestment, in «clarté», radiance.


**10** Que ce soit dans la nuit et dans la solitude,  
Whether it be in the night and in solitude,
> «que ce soit» — the subjunctive of concession: «soit» is the present subjunctive of «être»; «que ce soit … que ce soit …» = 'whether it be … or whether it be …'. The doubled subjunctive grants every setting at once — night or street, solitude or crowd — so that her phantom is present everywhere, dancing «comme un flambeau» in the line that follows.

**11** Que ce soit dans la rue et dans la multitude,  
whether it be in the street and in the multitude,

**12** Son fantôme dans l'air danse comme un flambeau.  
her phantom in the air dances like a torch.


**13** Parfois il parle et dit: «Je suis belle, et j'ordonne  
Sometimes it speaks and says: "I am beautiful, and I command
> «ordonner que» + subjunctive of command: «ordonner» = 'to command, to order'; «ordonner que» governs the subjunctive. The command itself lands in the next line: «aimiez» is the present subjunctive of «aimer». So «j'ordonne / Que … vous n'aimiez que le Beau» = 'I command that … you love nothing but the Beautiful'. The phantom now speaks in her own voice, decreeing the poet's devotion.

**14** Que pour l'amour de moi vous n'aimiez que le Beau;  
that for love of me you love nothing but the Beautiful;
> «ne … que» — nothing but, only: «ne … que» is the restrictive 'only / nothing but' (not a true negation). «vous n'aimiez que le Beau» = 'you love only the Beautiful'. «le Beau» — capitalized Beauty as an absolute — is what she orders him to love «pour l'amour de moi», 'for love of me': loving her means loving Beauty itself.

**15** Je suis l'Ange gardien, la Muse et la Madone.»  
I am the guardian Angel, the Muse and the Madonna."
> Guardian Angel, Muse, Madonna: The phantom names herself in three sacred guises: «l'Ange gardien», the guardian angel who protects; «la Muse», who inspires the poet's art; «la Madone», the Madonna, the Virgin who is worshipped. The line fuses spiritual guardianship, poetic inspiration, and religious adoration — the beloved as protector, source, and object of a cult, the «guillemets» closing on her own self-declaration.

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