Artemis by Gerard de Nerval

The thirteenth returns … She’s forever the first;


And always the sole one – or the sole instant;


For are you queen, O you, the first or the last?


Are you king, you the sole or the last lover?…


Love him who loved you from cradle to hearse;


She I alone loved still loves me tenderly:


She is death – or the dead one…O joy! O torment!


The rose she holds is the Rose trémiere [hollyhock].


Neapolitan saint with your hands full of fire,


Rose with violet heart, Saint Gudula’s flower:


Have you found your cross in the desert of heaven?


White roses: fall! You insult our gods,


Fall, white phantoms, from your burning skies:


— She, the saint of the pit, is holier to my eyes!

(Translated by A. S. Kline)