Versailles

Grandeur. Old fashions and their polished grace.
High ceremony. Endless curtseying.
Exalted names in satin shimmering.
Hands ducal edged with antique Flanders lace,

Hands royal on spinets. Antiphonies
of bishops for Monseigneur le Dauphin,
minuet gestures, hearts of biscuit fin,
the so-called Austrian urbanities…

princesses of blue blood, their dignity
steeped in a caste’s historic purity;
great nobles graced with wit; fine swords in sheath;

porcelain marquesses; a festival,
choice, lively, brave, mad, gallant; above all,
their lips wear, like a flower, that scorn of death!


Translated from the French by © Timothy Ades