Translation of Les Chauves-Souris: Maëstro by Robert de Montesquiou – Dennis Goodwin

November 29, 2025

I am the sovereign of transitory things
My courtesans: the rare, the tenuous
The infinitesimal; I’ve held, on my own terms
Change— I’ll tell you about me

I will immobilize all that moves
A rainbow fast as it fades, his erection
Sarabands in light beamed
Frail atoms tossed blonde and powdery

I am the stenographer of sharp nuances
I represent whip-quick impressions
My words have nuzzled the halcyon
On soft waves of influence

Like the fluttering flank of a butterfly pricked
Doomed, throbbing in glitter
Hear me, I will inhale intricacies
Like a live bouquet of dead violets

I preserve, surprised, what should have lasted a moment
A rose for whom a century is twelve hours
An ephemeral being suffering thousands of seductions
In a perpetual dream

But, in a complicated way, if I err
I find perfume and colors mixed
Rays drowsy, mirages arranged
Stationary versatility

Here I am, captive to a prison spongy
A dark gleam shines
It must be said, if you read all I’ve written
As Joshua arrested the sun overhead
Don’t you envy how I’ve mastered the shadows?