Les amoureux fervents et les savants
Aiment également, dans leur mûre saison,
Les chats puissants et doux, orgueil de la maison,
Qui comme eux sont frileux et comme eux sédentaires.
Amis de la science et de la voluptéIls cherchent le silence et l'horreur des ténèbres;
L'Erèbe les eût pris pour ses coursiers funèbres,
S'ils pouvaient au servage incliner leur fierté.
Ils prennent en songeant les nobles
Des grands sphinx allongés au fond des solitudes,
Qui semblent s'endormir dans un rêve sans fin;
Leurs reins féconds sont pleins d'étincelles magiques,
Et des parcelles d'or, ainsi qu'un sable fin,
Etoilent vaguement leurs prunelles mystiques.
Both ardent lovers and austere scholars Love in their mature years The strong and gentle cats, pride of the house,
Who like them are sedentary and sensitive to cold.
Friends of learning and sensual pleasure,
They seek the silence and the horror of darkness;
Erebus would have used them as his gloomy steeds:
If their pride could let them stoop to bondage.
When they dream, they assume the noble attitudes Of the mighty sphinxes stretched out in solitude,
Who seem to fall into a sleep of endless dreams;
Their fertile loins are full of magic sparks,
And particles of gold, like fine grains of sand,
Spangle dimly their mystic eyes.— Translated by William
Cats Sages austere and fervent lovers both,
In their ripe season, cherish cats, the pride Of hearths, strong, mild, and to themselves allied In chilly stealth and sedentary sloth.
Friends both to lust and learning, they frequent Silence, and love the horror darkness breeds.
Erebus would have chosen them for steeds To hearses, could their pride to it have bent.
Dreaming, the noble postures they assume Of sphinxes stretching out into the gloom That seems to swoon into an endless trance.
Their fertile flanks are full of sparks that tingle,
And particles of gold, like grains of shingle,
Vaguely be-star their pupils as they glance.— Translated by Roy
No one but indefatigable lovers and old Chilly philosophers can understand the true Charm of these animals serene and potent, who Likewise are sedentary and suffer from the cold.
They are the friends of learning and of sexual bliss;
Silence they love, and darkness, where temptation breeds.
Erebus would have made them his funereal steeds,
Save that their proud free nature would not stoop to this.
Like those great sphinxes lounging through eternity In noble attitudes upon the desert sand,
They gaze incuriously at nothing, calm and wise.
Their fecund loins give forth electric flashes, and Thousands of golden particles drift ceaselessly,
Like galaxies of stars, in their mysterious eyes.— Translated by George
Fevered lovers and austere
Love equally, in their ripe
Cats powerful and gentle, pride of the
Like them they feel the cold, like them are sedentary Friends of science and
They seek the silence and the horror of the
Erebus had taken them for its funeral
Could they to servitude incline their pride.
Dreaming, they take on noble
Great sphinxes stretched out in the depths of
Seeming to fall asleep into an endless dream.
Their fertile loins are full of magic
And nuggets of gold like fine
Vaguely bestar their mystic pupils.
Translated by Anonymous
