La non-demande en mariage [English translation]

My dear one, by grace, let's not

Put under the throat of Cupid

His own arrow,

So much lovers tried

Whom, of their happiness paid

This sacrilege...

I have the honor of

Not asking for your hand,

Let's not carve

Our names at the bottom

Of a parchment.

Let's set the birds free,

We'llboth be prisonners on parole1,

To hell with the mistress that2

Attach hearts and handles

Of casseroles !

I have the honor...

Venus ages often

She can't make head or tail of it ahead

The dripping pan

At no cost I want

In the stew pluck the petals of

The daisy3.

I have the honor...

One strips of most of her assets,

By unveilling too much the secrets

Of Melusine4.

The ink of love letters fades

Quickly between the pages of

the cooking books.

I have the honor...

It might seem reassuring

To put in the dark, in a jar

Of jam,

The pretty forbidden apple

But it is cooked, it lost

It's "natural" taste.

I have the honor...

Of servant I have no need,

And of cleaning and caring

I exempt you...

That's as an eternal fiancée,

To the lady of my thoughts

Always I think...

I have the honor...

1. Play on words with "donner sa parole" = to give his word.2. Pun with "maîtresses qu'eux" sounding like "maître-queux" = a top chef.3. Litterally "playing she loves me, she loves me not" above a stew pot.4. The dragon bride of the medieval legend.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melusine