Letter 002 — II
Original French
Paris, décembre 1795.
Je me réveille plein de toi. Ton portrait et l’enivrante soirée d’hier n’ont point laissé de repos à mes sens. Douce et incomparable Joséphine, quel effet bizarre faites-vous sur mon cœur; vous fâchez-vous; vous vois-je triste, êtes-vous inquiète; … mon âme est brisée de douleur et il n’est point de repos pour votre ami, mais en est-il donc davantage pour moi, lorsque me livrant au sentiment profond qui me maîtrise, je puise sur vos lèvres, sur votre cœur, une flamme qui me brûle? Ah! c’est cette nuit que je me suis bien aperçu que votre portrait n’est pas vous. Tu pars à midi, je te verrai dans trois heures. En attendant, mio dolce amor, un millier de baisers, mais ne m’en donne pas, car ils brûlent mon sang.
Musean translation
Machine-assisted Musean English translated from the French of the 172 Napoleon letters selected from Tancrède Martel, ed., Œuvres littéraires de Napoléon Bonaparte, tome 1 (Albert Savine, Paris, 1888). French Wikisource contributors supplied the scan-backed transcription: https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Livre:Bonaparte_-_Œuvres_littéraires,_tome_1,_1888.djvu (page histories credit contributors). The transcription is CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/; this adapted text and translations are shared under the same license. Extraction removes markup and editorial notes; selected transcription repairs were checked against print images.
Paris, December 1795.
I wake filled with thoughts of you. Your portrait and yesterday's intoxicating evening have left my senses no rest. Sweet, incomparable Joséphine, what a strange effect you have on my heart! If you are angry, if I see you sad, if you are troubled, … my soul is broken with pain and your friend can find no rest. But do I find any more when, yielding to the deep feeling that masters me, I draw from your lips, from your heart, a flame that burns me? Ah! It was last night that I truly realized your portrait is not you. You leave at noon; I shall see you in three hours. Until then, my sweet love, a thousand kisses—but do not give me any, for they set my blood on fire.
Plain English translation
Independent machine-assisted Plain English translation from the 1888 Martel French edition, not a historical English translation. French Wikisource contributors supplied the scan-backed transcription: https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Livre:Bonaparte_-_Œuvres_littéraires,_tome_1,_1888.djvu (page histories credit contributors). The adapted transcription and translation are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Extraction removes markup and editorial notes and makes documented transcription repairs. French-source model review is not human specialist certification or a complete scan collation.
Paris, December 1795.
I wake with you entirely on my mind. Your portrait and the heady evening we spent yesterday have kept my senses awake. Sweet Joséphine, there is no one like you, and you have such a strange effect on my heart! Are you angry? Do I see you looking sad? Are you worried? My soul breaks with pain, and your friend can find no rest. But am I any more at rest when I give myself over to the deep feeling that rules me and take from your lips and your heart a flame that burns me? Ah, last night I truly understood that your portrait is not you. You leave at noon; in three hours I will see you. Until then, mio dolce amor, a thousand kisses—but give me none, because they make my blood burn.
About this section
Letter 002 — II is part of Letters to Josephine by Napoléon Bonaparte. This page sets the French original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is part 2 of 172 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
Open the work page for the full contents, every edition, and the download links, or go back to Explore to browse other complete works in the European tradition. The reader keeps your place when you are signed in and lets you compare the original with each translation, one edition at a time.