O fleece, billowing even down the neck!
    O locks! 0 perfume charged with nonchalance!
    What ecstasy! To people our dark room
    With memories that sleep within this mane,
    I'll shake it like a kerchief in the air!

    Languorous Asia, scorching Africa,
    A whole world distant, vacant, nearly dead,
    Lives in your depths, o forest of perfume!
    While other spirits sail on symphonies
    Mine, my beloved, swims along your scent.

    I will go down there, where the trees and men,
    Both full of sap, swoon in the ardent heat;
    Strong swelling tresses, carry me away!
    Yours, sea of ebony, a dazzling dream
    Of sails, of oarsmen, waving pennants, masts:

    A sounding harbour where my soul can drink
    From great floods subtle tones, perfumes and hues;
    Where vessels gliding in the moire and gold
    Open their wide arms to the glorious sky
    Where purely trembles the eternal warmth.

    I'll plunge my drunken head, dizzy with love
    In this black sea where that one is confined;
    My subtle soul that rolls in its caress