I very little knew your husband, Madam;
He was large and ugly, I did not know more.
But we are not annoyed, when we love a woman,
Whether the husband is one-eyed or wobbly or impotent.
I felt that this inoffensive and stupid being
Was too small to be dangerous,
He who may stay between us two,
We will love each other in front of his eyes.
And then, what matters to me other places? But today
It comes to your spirit I do not know which whim.
You speak about oaths, duty and sacrifice
And eternal remorse! … And all that for him?
Do you think of it, Madam? And you believe born,
You, young person, beautiful, with the heart inflated by hope,
To live each day and to sleep each evening
Next to this creature who profaned you?
What! Could you have one moment of remorse?
Can this mislead this modest little runt,
Eunuch, I suppose, and the spirit and the body,
Who will amuse me if he leaves the race?
Look at him, Madam, he has the eyes pierced
Like two small holes in barrel of resin.
His limbs are too short and seem badly thorough,
And his belly amazes, where his chest sinks
Every occasion must be very embarrassing.
When he dines, he places his napkin on his neck
To not make the collar of his shirt dirty
Which he elsewhere spilled tobacco.
Once in the living room he remains distant,
All alone in a black corner, or goes without morning
To the kitchen near the hot stove, because
He knows that digesting whirrs like an organ.
He plays word games with serenity;
You are called: " my kitten" and: " my beloved whore" ,
And wants, for any glory and any fame,
To be, in disagreements, with the neighbors opinion.
Him who everywhere is seen as a good man.
He has order, is careful, wise, sparing,
Takes care of the maid and takes it easy,
But they do not go higher… They find him ugly.
He places the candle and takes account of sugar,
Volunteers to fix his own bottoms
And, well he has in his heart a strong love for profits,
He, perhaps, loves you too. In all the cases
He does not understand you more than an ass understands a poem.
He lives at your side, and not with you,
And if I suddenly said to him that I love you,
Perhaps he would be flattered more than jealous.
Blow, inflate with wind this pretentious soldier,
Grotesque scarecrow that on love climbs,
As we put in a tree a wooden mannequin
Of which the birds are afraid at the first sight.
I between my arms, soon will have seized you;
We are going to open to each other irresistibly.
Let he stays between us two, this simple man,
We will make him burst in our embrace.
Notes
To read the original in French click here
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/81391-Guy-de-Maupassant-Sommation-Sans-Respect
Leave a guest comment (subject to review)
Comments
1 - 5 of 5
-
a vow of love and defiance; romance in the eyes of a determined man. To speak of a husbabd with such disdain, is to speak of the boldness of the lover, the taker and giver, a too confident man, assessing the world in a scale he holds in his own hands, and yet for all of his faults...he is the ardent lover, and he holds her heart...wonderful poetry and the translation, a difficult set of ideas here in antiquated language...and obtuse references...so well done in the spirit intended by the author..remarkable ...i join in thanks to Mari Goes...h
-
Great work
Thanks very much MariGoes for the translation. I didnt know that Maupassant has also written poems because he is well known in the literary world for his short story write.well the translation is wonderful but I have a little doubt about the line,
"And if I suddenly said to him that I love you, "
please check if this is what he wants to say in this line.
-
-
Thanks Ahkam. Yes that is what he said in the original.
"And if I suddenly said to him that I love you,
Perhaps he would be flattered more than jealous"
I believe that what he wanted to show is that the 'short man' didn't really care (or didn't want to acknowledge) that there was another man in his wife's life. Or maybe the fact of other men loving her, made him proud of having such a desirable woman. Hope it helped to understand the line
-
-
Not to put works in Ahkam's mouth but I think maybe he thinks the line's "you" means the fat man, when it actually means the woman he is speaking to...but like I said, I'm putting words in his mouth so I will shut my own now.
And yes, I think it's that he finds the fat man's vanity stupid and misplaced, which seems like irony since this poem is one long praise to the speaker's vanity...which is one reason I liked it actually.
-
-
-
Thanks MariGoes for the translation! It's an intriguing poem filled with flippant humor and vitriolic words. It is part humor, part invective denunciation. It's a lot like his fiction, reads like a tale. I wonder if it is at all true. Time to go do some research.
Adding your comment:
1 - 5 of 5
