Les Fleurs du Mal (Flowers of Evil) is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire, written in 1840 and first published in 1857. Considered very controversial for its time, six of the poems were actually censored, described as an ‘outrage aux bonnes mœurs’ (an insult to public decency), due to the use of suggestive images and themes relating to the original sin, evil, obsession with death.
Le Chat is an erotic poem from this fascinating collection comparing the cat to a woman.
Le Chat
Viens, mon beau chat, sur mon coeur amoureux;
Retiens les griffes de ta patte,
Et laisse-moi plonger dans tes beaux yeux,
Mêlés de métal et d’agate.
Lorsque mes doigts caressent à loisir
Ta tête et ton dos élastique,
Et que ma main s’enivre du plaisir
De palper ton corps électrique,
Je vois ma femme en esprit. Son regard,
Comme le tien, aimable bête
Profond et froid, coupe et fend comme un dard,
Et, des pieds jusques à la tête,
Un air subtil, un dangereux parfum
Nagent autour de son corps brun.
The Cat
Come, superb cat, to my amorous heart;
Hold back the talons of your paws,
Let me gaze into your beautiful eyes
Of metal and agate.
When my fingers leisurely caress you,
Your head and your elastic back,
And when my hand tingles with the pleasure
Of feeling your electric body,
In spirit I see my woman. Her gaze
Like your own, amiable beast,
Profound and cold, cuts and cleaves like a dart,
And, from her head down to her feet,
A subtle air, a dangerous perfume
Floats about her dusky body.
Loved this, merci, and my cat, Loulou, was enthralled!