She had very few clothes on
And big indiscreet trees
Threw their leaves against the panes
Slyly, very close, very close.
Sitting in my big chair,
Half naked, she clasped her hands.
Her small feet so delicate, so delicate,
Trembled with pleasure on the floor.
---The color of wax, I watched
A small nervous ray of light
Flutter in her smile
And on her breast---a fly on the rose-bush.
---I kissed her delicate ankles.
Abruptly she laughed.
It was soft
And it spread out in clear trills,
A lovely crystal laughter.
Her small feet under the petticoat
Escaped. “Please
stop!”
---When the first boldness was permitted,
The laugh pretended to punish!
---Poor things trembling under my lips,
I softly kissed her eyes:
---She threw her sentimental head
Backward: “Oh! that’s too much!...
“Sir, I have something to say to you…”
---What was left I put on her breast
In a kiss, which made her laugh
With a kind laugh that was willing…
---She had very few clothes on
And big indiscreet trees
Threw their leaves against the panes
Slyly, very close, very close.
-
Arthur Rimbaud
Rimbaud, Arthur. Rimbaud: Complete Words, Selected Letters. Trans. Wallace Fowlie.
