The poem L’invitation au voyage by Charles Baudelaire is the 53rd lyric of the 1857 collection Les Fleurs du mal. 

In these verses, the poet invites his beloved to flee toward an ideal 'elsewhere'—an imaginary realm where the pain and disorder of real life dissipate. The famous refrain:

'Là, tout n’est qu’ordre et beauté, / Luxe, calme et volupté' 

(There, all is order and beauty, / Luxury, peace, and pleasure), describes an artificial paradise of perfect harmony. This is not a wild, untamed land, but a refined, orderly, and luxurious environment where every sense is gratified by the scent of amber, polished furniture, and golden light. 

The journey is, therefore, both physical and spiritual: a quest for inner peace through beauty. As one of the most celebrated works of French Symbolism, the poem transforms the journey into a metaphor for the pursuit of absolute happiness and aesthetic perfection. 

This concept of beauty inspired the first collection. Polished furniture and elegance capture a moment of profound calm and pleasure.

 

Invitation to the Voyage 

My child, my sister,

Think of the sweetness

Of going there to live together!

To love at leisure,

To love and to die

In the land that resembles you!

The misty suns

Of those cloudy skies

For my spirit have the charms,

So mysterious,

Of your treacherous eyes,

Shining through their tears. 

There, all is order and beauty,

Luxury, peace, and pleasure. 

Gleaming furniture,

Polished by the years,

Would ornament our bedroom;

The rarest flowers

Mingling their odors

With the vague fragrance of amber,

The rich ceilings,

The deep mirrors,

The oriental splendor,

All would whisper

Secretly to the soul

In its soft native tongue. 

There, all is order and beauty,

Luxury, peace, and pleasure. 

See on those canals

Those vessels sleeping,

Whose mood is adventurous;

It is to satisfy

Your least desire

That they come from the ends of the earth.

The setting suns

Clothe the fields,

The canals, the entire city,

With hyacinth and gold;

The world falls asleep

In a warm glow of light. 

There, all is order and beauty,

Luxury, peace, and pleasure.