Little Poems in Prose

“Such are the domestic matters of these de- scendants of Adam and Eve; these works of Thine hands, O my God! This woman is incon- testably unhappy, although after all perhaps the titillating pleasures of glory are not un- known to her. There are more irremediable misfortunes; there are misfortunes that have no compensation. But in the world into which she has been thrown she had never been able to believe that women could ever deserve an- other fate. “Now, between ourselves, my affected dar- ling; to see the hells with which the world is crowded, what do you wish me to think of your pretty hell? You who rest only upon materials as soft as your own skin; eat nothing but well- cooked food, carefully carved by a clever ser- vant. “And all these little sighs which swell your perfumed breast, what can they mean for me, great strong coquette that you are? And all these affectations that you have learned from books, and this indefatigable melancholy, fit to inspire who looks upon it with quite another sentiment than pity? In truth I sometimes feel that I should like to teach you what real un- happiness is like. To see you thus, my beauti- ful invalid, your feet in the mire and your eyes turned dimly towards heaven, as if you wanted