Théophile Gautier's poem on the Venice Carnival

Théophile Gautier

Variations on the Carnival of Venice

Carnival
“Venice dresses up for the ball.
All decked out in sequins,
The colourful carnival sparkles, bustles and chatters.

Harlequin, black with his mask,
A snake with his thousand colours,
Rosse with his whimsical note
A horse with a whimsical note
Cassandra, his tormentor.

Flapping his wing with his sleeve
Like a penguin on a rock,
The white Pierrot, wearing white,
Sticks his head out and winks.

The Bolognese Doctor repeats
With a drawn-out bass voice;
Polichinelle, who gets angry,
Finds a crotchet for a nose.

Hitting Trivelin who blows his nose
With an extravagant trill,
To Colombine Scaramouche
He returns his fan or his glove.

On a cadence slips
A domino revealing nothing
But a mischievous glance from behind the scenes
From beneath black satin eyelids.

Ah! Fine lace beard,
Blown away by a pure breath,
This arpeggio told me: It's her!
Despite your schemes, I'm sure,

And I recognised, pink and fresh,
Beneath the awful cardboard profile,
Her lip with its fine peach down,
And the mole on her chin.”

Théophile Gautier - Émaux et Camées