Léandre le sot,
Pierrot qui d'un saut,
De puce
Franchit le buisson,
Cassandre sous son
Capuce,
Arlequin aussi,
Cet aigrefin si
Fantasque
Aux costumes fous,
Ses yeux luisants sous
Son masque,
- Do, mi, sol, mi, fa, -
Tout ce monde va,
Rit, chante
Et danse devant
Une belle enfant
Méchante
Dont les yeux pervers
Comme les yeux verts
Des chattes
Gardent ses appas
Et disent: "À bas
Les pattes!"
- Eux ils vont toujours! -
Fatidique cours
Des astres,
Oh! dis-moi vers quels
Mornes ou cruels
Désastres
L'implacable enfant,
Preste et relevant
Ses jupes,
La rose au chapeau,
Conduit son troupeau
De dupes?
Foolish Leander,
Pierrot who with a flea-Hop
Leaps the brushwood,
Pantaloon beneath
His cloak,
Harlequin too,
That swindler so
Bizarre
In his crazy clothes,
With eyes aglow behind
His mask,
- Do re mi fa sol, -
See all of then go,
Laugh, sing,
And dance before
A sweet and naughty
Child
Whose pernicious eyes,
Like the green eyes
Of cats,
Keep their charms
And say: ‘Keep your
Hands off!’
- On and on they go!
Like the fateful course
Of stars,
Oh! tell me, towards which
Dull or savage
Wreckage
Is the implacable child,
Nimbly lifting
Her skirts,
With a flower in her hat,
Leading her herd
Of fools?