Prayer for the Marquis de Clermont-Tonnerre
(in the style of Robert de Montesquiou)
I graft the rose bushes from which have flowered marbles,
Those of "mossy" Pharos and Carrara "tea"
And, from those roseate and golden boughs,
I may extract the unknown songs of Hardy-Thé.1
My brush makes flow in scrolls of abacus
This gold that makes march, to what is named, Cloton!
Trianon, Vézelay, are nothing but hovels,
When the spirit compares them to the palace of Lauriston.
My Lord, if you deign admit me to the halls
Where the just will break the Essential bread,
That of equally pure marble your stalls glitter!
Of Glissolles and d'Ancy, worthy of Heaven!
(being a faithful copy: Marcel Proust).
(The year of 1910).
1. Madame Hardy-Thé, singer, to whom Ravel dedicated two songs. Also Madame Hardy du Thé rose.
From Bulletin de la société des amis de Marcel Proust et des amis de Combray, no 5, 1955, p5, Prière du marquis de Clermont-Tonnerre, presentée par Elisabeth de Gramont.