Ah, pierce me one hundred times with your needles fine
And I will thank you one hundred times, Saint Morphine,
You who Aesculapius has made a God.

[Ah! Perce-moi cent fois de ton aiguille fine
Et je te bénirai cent fois, Sainte Morphine,
Dont Esculape eût fait une divinité.]

Jules Verne (1828-1905) French novelist, poet, playwright
“To Morphine [A la morphine]” (1866)
    (Source)

A sonnet written while recovering from a leg injured in an attack by his nephew.

Alt. trans.: "Ah! Needle me a hundred times, and, yes, / A hundred times, Saint Morphine, I will bless / You, whom Asclepius would have deified." [Skinner (2011)]

(A number of sources give the name in the last line as "Aeseulapus," but this is almost certainly a mistyping of the Latin form of Asclepius that has been copied without consideration.)

 
Added on 17-Jun-16 | Last updated 17-Jun-16
Link to this post | No comments
Topics: , , ,
More quotes by Verne, Jules

Thoughts? Comments? Corrections? Feedback?