WALKING WITH THE ARCHBISHOP

By 1695, the duc de Saint-Simon writes,

Francois de Harlay de Champvallon, Archbishop of Paris,

Having lost the King’s favor, had became a lonely man.

He would spend long days with his mistress

(Whose name was even longer than his:

Paule Marguerite Francoise de Gondi,

Duchesse de Lesdiguieres; there was no room

In a coach for a third once the two of them

And their names had been helped inside and seated).

In the afternoon, they walk in his garden;

Behind them – too far to overhear what they say –

Two servants follow, with rakes, erasing

All traces of the archbishop and his duchesse.

It can not be a hard job; one man

And one rake should have sufficed.

But there are two, so that each of them

Has some company over the slow hours.

      

So; the Archbishop walks the gravelled paths

Arm in arm with the Duchesse; in the distance

Two liveried men who rise above their station

To pity their master, sotto voce. Behind them, can you see

Saint-Simon? Small, sharp-eyed, just turned twenty;

He it is who has invited me to witness the scene

So envision me somewhere behind him. He knows

That I am there, but etiquette forbids him to notice me

And I am shy of approaching a man, a duc no less,

Who is 347 years my senior. I now request

The pleasure of your company; come along.

There! the Archbishop has made the Duchesse smile.