Bouquet

In the gaze of my life, it is you I invite,
And you stick out from all the beauties in sight.

I liberate my poems like colts to the wind,
They go as I like, ascending or stumbling,
Sometimes as rebels, offering with a crash,
Other times like lace, with threads fine and flash.

You too glimmer as you step into the dance,
Resembling the beauty of Lola from Valence,
And haul with you from morning until night,
That "unexpected charm of the pink and black light."

These verses and sonnets are tossed at your feet,
Sometimes they reach you, sometimes they withdraw.
But if they touch you even just a slight way,
In blossoms they appear, forming a bouquet.

Gather this alchemy, charm of our lives,
Be a fulfilled woman, in every delight.

LOLA FROM VALENCE

Amidst the many beauties one may come across,
I understand, my friends, desires may sway and toss;
Yet in Lola from Valence, one can clearly see,
The unexpected charm of a gem, pink and ebony.

Charles Baudelaire - Flowers of Evil
Inscription for Édouard Manet's painting.

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