# Une Martyre · A Martyr

Les Fleurs du mal · Charles Baudelaire · Flowers of Evil

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/une-martyre. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/baudelaire/une-martyre.json.

**1** Dessin d'un Maître inconnu  
Drawing by an unknown Master


**2** Au milieu des flacons, des étoffes lamées  
Amid the phials, the lamé fabrics
> «lamé»: «lamé» describes cloth interwoven with thin strips of gold or silver — what English also calls 'lamé'. «étoffes lamées» are these glittering, metal-shot fabrics; the opening piles up the boudoir's luxuries («flacons» = perfume phials) before the body is revealed.

**3** Et des meubles voluptueux,  
and the voluptuous furnishings,

**4** Des marbres, des tableaux, des robes parfumées  
marbles, paintings, perfumed gowns

**5** Qui traînent à plis somptueux,  
that trail in sumptuous folds,
> «traîner» / «à plis»: «traîner» here is intransitive, '(of clothes) to trail, to drag along the ground'. «à plis somptueux» uses «à» to describe a defining feature — 'in / with sumptuous folds'. The gowns lie heaped and trailing, the room's opulence framing the corpse to come.


**6** Dans une chambre tiède où, comme en une serre,  
In a warm chamber where, as in a hothouse,

**7** L'air est dangereux et fatal,  
the air is dangerous and deadly,

**8** Où des bouquets mourants dans leurs cercueils de verre  
where dying bouquets, in their coffins of glass,
> «cercueil»: A «cercueil» (m.) is a coffin. The flower vases become «cercueils de verre» — coffins of glass — so that the wilting bouquets are already corpses on display, a small rehearsal of the woman's body. «mourants» is the present participle of «mourir» (to die) used adjectivally: 'dying'.

**9** Exhalent leur soupir final,  
breathe out their final sigh,


**10** Un cadavre sans tête épanche, comme un fleuve,  
A headless corpse pours out, like a river,
> «épancher»: «épancher» means 'to pour out, to shed, to let flow'. The headless «cadavre» (corpse) «épanche … un sang rouge et vivant» — pours out, like a river, a red and living blood. The verb's object arrives two lines later, the syntax spilling across the lines like the blood itself.

**11** Sur l'oreiller désaltéré  
onto the slaked pillow
> «désaltérer»: «désaltérer» means 'to quench the thirst of, to slake'. The past participle «désaltéré» here turns the bloodstained pillow into something that has drunk its fill — 'the slaked pillow'. The conceit runs on in the next lines, where the linen «s'abreuve» (drinks) with the «avidité d'un pré» (the greed of a meadow).

**12** Un sang rouge et vivant, dont la toile s'abreuve  
a red and living blood, on which the linen drinks
> «dont» + «s'abreuver de»: «s'abreuver de qqch.» is the pronominal 'to drink one's fill of, to slake oneself on'. The relative «dont» stands in for «de + le sang»: «un sang … dont la toile s'abreuve» = 'a blood on which the linen drinks its fill'. «la toile» (the cloth, the canvas) keeps the painterly metaphor alive even here.

**13** Avec l'avidité d'un pré.  
with the greed of a meadow.


**14** Semblable aux visions pâles qu'enfante l'ombre  
Like the pale visions that the shadow breeds
> Inverted subject after «que»: «enfanter» means 'to give birth to, to bring forth, to breed'. After the relative «que» the subject is inverted to follow its verb: «les visions … qu'enfante l'ombre» = 'the visions that the shadow brings forth' — «l'ombre» is the subject, «que» (the visions) the object. The head, described next, is likened to such dream-apparitions.

**15** Et qui nous enchaînent les yeux,  
and that fetter our eyes,

**16** La tête, avec l'amas de sa crinière sombre  
the head, with the mass of its dark mane
> «crinière»: A «crinière» is properly a mane — the long hair on a horse's or lion's neck. Applied to the woman's hair it is faintly bestial and wild, an «amas» (heap, mass) of dark hair. The subject «La tête» finally lands here after the long simile of the previous lines; its verb «Repose» arrives only in the next stanza.

**17** Et de ses bijoux précieux,  
and its precious jewels,


**18** Sur la table de nuit, comme une renoncule,  
on the night table, like a buttercup,
> «renoncule»: A «renoncule» is a buttercup or ranunculus. The severed head set on the bedside table is likened to a cut flower in a vase — an obscene tenderness typical of the poem, which keeps draping horror in the imagery of the boudoir and the garden.

**19** Repose; et, vide de pensers,  
rests; and, empty of thoughts,
> «penser» as a noun: «pensers» is an archaic, poetic noun, 'thoughts, musings' — the substantive use of the verb «penser» (to think), favored by older verse for its elevated ring. «vide de pensers» = 'empty of thoughts'. «Repose» (rests) is at last the main verb of «La tête», held back across five lines.

**20** Un regard vague et blanc comme le crépuscule  
a gaze vague and white as the twilight

**21** S'échappe des yeux révulsés.  
escapes from the rolled-back eyes.
> «yeux révulsés»: «révulsé» describes eyes turned violently upward or back so that mostly the whites show — 'rolled back, upturned'. «S'échappe» is the pronominal «s'échapper» ('to escape, to slip out'); from the dead, upturned eyes a vague white look still seems to escape.


**22** Sur le lit, le tronc nu sans scrupules étale  
On the bed, the naked trunk, without scruple, spreads out
> «étaler» (transitive verb, delayed object): «étaler» means 'to spread out, to display, to lay bare'. «le tronc nu» (the naked trunk) is the subject and «étale» the verb; its object — «La secrète splendeur et la beauté fatale» — does not arrive until two lines down. «sans scrupules» ('without scruple, shamelessly') sets the body's brazen exposure even in death.

**23** Dans le plus complet abandon  
in the most complete abandon

**24** La secrète splendeur et la beauté fatale  
the secret splendor and the fatal beauty

**25** Dont la nature lui fit don;  
with which nature endowed her;
> «faire don de» + «dont»: «faire don de qqch. à qqn» = 'to make a gift of something to someone, to endow with'. The relative «dont» replaces «de» + the splendor and beauty above: «la beauté … dont la nature lui fit don» = 'the beauty that nature gave her as a gift'. «fit» is the passé simple of «faire»; «lui» is 'to her'.


**26** Un bas rosâtre, orné de coins d'or, à la jambe,  
A pinkish stocking, trimmed with gold clocks, on the leg,
> «coins» (of a stocking): «coin» normally means 'corner', but on hosiery the «coins» are the embroidered ornaments worked into the ankle of a stocking — what English calls the 'clocks'. «orné de coins d'or» = 'adorned with gold clocks'. «rosâtre» is 'pinkish', the «-âtre» suffix giving a faint, slightly unpleasant tinge to the color.

**27** Comme un souvenir est resté;  
has stayed on, like a keepsake;

**28** La jarretière, ainsi qu'un oeil secret qui flambe,  
the garter, just like a secret eye that blazes,
> «ainsi que» (just as / like): «ainsi que» means 'just as, in the same way as, like' — here introducing a simile, not the additive 'as well as'. «La jarretière, ainsi qu'un oeil secret qui flambe» = 'the garter, like a secret eye that blazes'. «flamber» is 'to blaze, to flame up'; the jeweled garter glints like a watching, burning eye.

**29** Darde un regard diamanté.  
darts a diamonded glance.
> «darder» / «diamanté»: «darder» means 'to dart, to shoot forth' (as a ray or a sting); «un regard» is 'a look, a glance'. «diamanté» is 'set with diamonds, diamond-bright'. The garter «darde un regard diamanté» — 'shoots out a diamonded glance' — the jewel turned into a glittering, almost menacing eye.


**30** Le singulier aspect de cette solitude  
The singular aspect of this solitude

**31** Et d'un grand portrait langoureux,  
and of a great languorous portrait,

**32** Aux yeux provocateurs comme son attitude,  
with eyes as provoking as her posture,
> Descriptive «à» («with eyes…»): «à» + a body part describes a defining feature: «un portrait aux yeux provocateurs» = 'a portrait with provoking eyes'. «provocateur» here means 'provocative, inviting'. The portrait on the wall, as bold-eyed as the living woman once was, looks down on the murder scene.

**33** Révèle un amour ténébreux,  
reveals a shadowy love,


**34** Une coupable joie et des fêtes étranges  
a guilty joy and strange revels

**35** Pleines de baisers infernaux,  
full of infernal kisses,

**36** Dont se réjouissait l'essaim des mauvais anges  
in which the swarm of evil angels delighted,
> «se réjouir de» + inverted subject: «se réjouir de qqch.» is the pronominal 'to rejoice in, to delight in'. «dont» stands for «de» + the revels above, and the subject «l'essaim des mauvais anges» (the swarm of evil angels) is inverted after the verb: «Dont se réjouissait l'essaim…» = 'in which the swarm… delighted'. «essaim» = a swarm (of bees, of spirits).

**37** Nageant dans les plis des rideaux;  
swimming in the folds of the curtains;


**38** Et cependant, à voir la maigreur élégante  
And yet, to see the elegant leanness
> «à» + infinitive ('to judge by'): «à» + infinitive can express the basis of an inference, 'on seeing, to judge by': «à voir la maigreur élégante» = 'to see / judging by the elegant leanness'. The construction launches a long conditional musing — looking at her slender shoulder and hip, the speaker wonders whether she was very young.

**39** De l'épaule au contour heurté,  
of the shoulder with its abrupt contour,

**40** La hanche un peu pointue et la taille fringante  
the slightly pointed hip and the dashing waist
> «fringant»: «fringant» means 'lively, frisky, dashing' — used of a spirited horse or a sprightly young person. «la taille fringante» gives the dead woman's waist a startling vitality, sharpened by the next line's simile, «comme un reptile irrité» (like an angry reptile).

**41** Ainsi qu'un reptile irrité,  
like an angry reptile,


**42** Elle est bien jeune encor! — Son âme exaspérée  
she is still quite young! — Her exasperated soul

**43** Et ses sens par l'ennui mordus  
and her senses bitten by ennui
> Passive participle «mordus»: «mordus» is the past participle of «mordre» (to bite), here used passively with «par»: «ses sens par l'ennui mordus» = 'her senses bitten by ennui'. The agent «par l'ennui» is fronted before the participle for the verse. «l'ennui» is Baudelaire's signature listless despair, the spleen that gnaws at the senses.

**44** S'étaient-ils entr'ouverts à la meute altérée  
had they half-opened to the thirsting pack
> Pronominal pluperfect + interrogative inversion: «s'entr'ouvrir» means 'to half-open, to open a little'. The form is the pluperfect of this pronominal verb with subject-verb inversion to mark a question: «S'étaient-ils entr'ouverts… ?» = 'had they half-opened… ?'. The subject «ils» is «Son âme… et ses sens»; the speaker asks whether soul and senses had opened to wandering desires.

**45** Des désirs errants et perdus?  
of wandering and lost desires?


**46** L'homme vindicatif que tu n'as pu, vivante,  
The vengeful man whom you could not, while living,
> «vivante» as a depictive adjective: «vivante» ('living, alive') is feminine to agree with «tu» — the dead woman, now addressed directly. It is dropped in as a depictive: 'whom you could not, while alive, sate'. The object of «assouvir» (to sate) is «L'homme vindicatif» fronted at the head; «tu n'as pu» = 'you were unable to'.

**47** Malgré tant d'amour, assouvir,  
despite so much love, satisfy,

**48** Combla-t-il sur ta chair inerte et complaisante  
did he glut, upon your inert and yielding flesh,
> «combler» + interrogative inversion: «combler» means 'to fill to the brim, to glut, to fulfil completely'. The inverted «Combla-t-il… ?» (with the euphonic «-t-») = 'did he fill / glut… ?'. Its object is «L'immensité de son désir» in the next line: the speaker asks whether the murderer slaked on her dead flesh the whole immensity of his desire.

**49** L'immensité de son désir?  
the immensity of his desire?


**50** Réponds, cadavre impur! et par tes tresses roides  
Answer, impure corpse! and by your stiff tresses
> «roide» (archaic «raide»): «roide» is the older spelling of «raide», 'stiff, rigid, taut'. «tresses roides» are the corpse's stiffened braids. «Réponds» is the imperative of «répondre» (to answer); the speaker commands the severed head to answer, and the sentence runs on into the act of lifting it by the hair.

**51** Te soulevant d'un bras fiévreux,  
lifting you with a feverish arm,
> «soulever» + present participle: «soulever» means 'to lift, to raise up'. «Te soulevant» is its present participle with the object pronoun «te» before it: 'lifting you (up)'. The participle describes the speaker's action as he gives the next command — raising the head by its braids with a feverish arm to demand its answer.

**52** Dis-moi, tête effrayante, a-t-il sur tes dents froides  
tell me, frightful head, did he, on your cold teeth,
> Imperative «dire» + inverted question: «Dis-moi» is the imperative of «dire» with the stressed pronoun «moi» (the «me» of the imperative): 'tell me'. It is followed by an inverted yes/no question, «a-t-il… collé… ?» = 'did he press / glue… ?'. The two clauses together: 'tell me… did he press the last farewells onto your cold teeth?'

**53** Collé les suprêmes adieux?  
pressed the supreme farewells?
> «coller»: «coller» means 'to glue, to stick, to press hard against'. «collé les suprêmes adieux» = 'pressed / planted the last farewells' — a final, glued-on kiss. «suprême» here is 'last, final, ultimate'. The grotesque question imagines the murderer kissing the dead mouth goodbye.


**54** — Loin du monde railleur, loin de la foule impure,  
— Far from the mocking world, far from the impure crowd,
> «railleur»: «railleur» means 'mocking, jeering, given to ridicule' (from «railler», to mock). The em-dash opens the poem's last movement, a hushed funeral blessing: «Loin du monde railleur… Dors en paix» — far from the sneering world, sleep in peace. The repeated «loin de» piles up everything the dead woman is now spared.

**55** Loin des magistrats curieux,  
far from the prying magistrates,

**56** Dors en paix, dors en paix, étrange créature,  
sleep in peace, sleep in peace, strange creature,
> Imperative of «dormir»: «Dors» is the familiar (tu) imperative of «dormir» (to sleep). The doubled «Dors en paix, dors en paix» = 'sleep in peace, sleep in peace' takes the cadence of a graveside benediction, the murderous scene resolving into a tender lullaby addressed to the «étrange créature».

**57** Dans ton tombeau mystérieux;  
in your mysterious tomb;


**58** Ton époux court le monde, et ta forme immortelle  
Your husband roams the world, and your immortal form
> «courir le monde»: «courir le monde» is an idiom, 'to roam the world, to wander far and wide'. Here «Ton époux court le monde» = 'your husband roams the world' — the killer (ironically named «époux», husband) is far away, while the dead woman's «forme immortelle» keeps watch over him: a bitter inversion of marital fidelity.

**59** Veille près de lui quand il dort;  
keeps watch beside him when he sleeps;

**60** Autant que toi sans doute il te sera fidèle,  
as much as you, no doubt, he will be faithful to you,
> «être fidèle à» + irony: «être fidèle à qqn» = 'to be faithful to someone'; «il te sera fidèle» = 'he will be faithful to you'. «Autant que toi» ('as much as you') makes the closing barb mutual and ironic: he will be as faithful to you as you were to him — that is, constant only «jusques à la mort», unto death, the death he dealt you.

**61** Et constant jusques à la mort.  
and constant unto death.
> «jusques» (poetic «jusqu'à»): «jusques» is an archaic, poetic variant of «jusqu'à» ('until, as far as'), the extra «-s» often added in verse before a vowel for the meter. «constant jusques à la mort» = 'constant unto death' — the poem's last words, where the language of wedding vows turns into the language of murder.

---

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