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diff --git a/36098-h/36098-h.htm b/36098-h/36098-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6536d40 --- /dev/null +++ b/36098-h/36098-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1823 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Flowers Of Evil, by Charles Baudelaire. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +a:link {color: #800000; text-decoration: none; } + +v:link {color: #800000; text-decoration: none; } + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +.margin {margin-left: 15%;} + +.margin-b {margin-left: 30%;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 36098 ***</div> + + +<h1>THE FLOWERS OF EVIL</h1> + +<h3>by</h3> + +<h2>CHARLES BAUDELAIRE</h2> + + +<h4>TRANSLATED INTO</h4> + +<h4>ENGLISH VERSE</h4> + + +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h3>CYRIL SCOTT</h3> + + +<h5>LONDON</h5> + +<h5>ELKIN MATHEWS, VIGO STREET</h5> + +<h5>M CM IX</h5> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h5>DEDICATED TO ARTHUR SYMONS</h5> + + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> + +<p class="margin"> +<span class="caption">CONTENTS</span><br /><br /> +<a href="#Benediction"><b>Benediction</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Echoes"><b>Echoes</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Sick_Muse"><b>The Sick Muse</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Venal_Muse"><b>The Venal Muse</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Evil_Monk"><b>The Evil Monk</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Enemy"><b>The Enemy</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Ill_Luck"><b>Ill Luck</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Interior_Life"><b>Interior Life</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Man_and_the_Sea"><b>Man and the Sea</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Beauty"><b>Beauty</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Ideal"><b>The Ideal</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Giantess"><b>The Giantess</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Hymn_to_Beauty"><b>Hymn to Beauty</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Exotic_Perfume"><b>Exotic Perfume</b></a><br /> +<a href="#La_Chevelure"><b>La Chevelure</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Sonnet_XXVIII"><b>Sonnet XXVIII</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Posthumous_Remorse"><b>Posthumous Remorse</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Balcony"><b>The Balcony</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Possessed_One"><b>The Possessed One</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Semper_Eadem"><b>Semper Eadem</b></a><br /> +<a href="#All_Entire"><b>All Entire</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Sonnet_XLIII"><b>Sonnet XLIII</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Living_Torch"><b>The Living Torch</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Spiritual_Dawn"><b>The Spiritual Dawn</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Evening_Harmony"><b>Evening Harmony</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Overcast_Sky"><b>Overcast Sky</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Invitation_to_a_Journey"><b>Invitation to a Journey</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Causerie"><b>"Causerie"</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Autumn_Song"><b>Autumn Song</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Sisina"><b>Sisina</b></a><br /> +<a href="#To_a_Creolean_Lady"><b>To a Creolean Lady</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Moesta_et_Errabunda"><b>Moesta et Errabunda</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Ghost"><b>The Ghost</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Autumn_Song_1"><b>Autumn Song</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Sadness_of_the_Moon-Goddess"><b>Sadness of the Moon-Goddess</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Cats"><b>Cats</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Owls"><b>Owls</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Music"><b>Music</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Joyous_Defunct"><b>The Joyous Defunct</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Broken_Bell"><b>The Broken Bell</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Spleen"><b>Spleen</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Obsession"><b>Obsession</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Magnetic_Horror"><b>Magnetic Horror</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Lid"><b>The Lid</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Berthas_Eyes"><b>Bertha's Eyes</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Set_of_the_Romantic_Sun"><b>The Set of the Romantic Sun</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Meditation"><b>Meditation</b></a><br /> +<a href="#To_a_Passer-by"><b>To a Passer-by</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Illusionary_Love"><b>Illusionary Love</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Mists_and_Rains"><b>Mists and Rains</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Wine_of_Lovers"><b>The Wine of Lovers</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Condemned_Women"><b>Condemned Women</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Death_of_the_Lovers"><b>The Death of the Lovers</b></a><br /> +<a href="#The_Death_of_the_Poor"><b>The Death of the Poor</b></a><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="Benediction" id="Benediction"></a>Benediction</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">When by the changeless Power of a Supreme Decree</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The poet issues forth upon this sorry sphere,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">His mother, horrified, and full of blasphemy,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Uplifts her voice to God, who takes compassion on her.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Ah, why did I not bear a serpent's nest entire,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Instead of bringing forth this hideous Child of Doom!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Oh cursèd be that transient night of vain desire</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">When I conceived my expiation in my womb!"</span><br /> +<br /> +"Yet since among all women thou hast chosen me<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To be the degradation of my jaded mate,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And since I cannot like a love-leaf wantonly</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Consign this stunted monster to the glowing grate,"</span><br /> +<br /> +"I'll cause thine overwhelming hatred to rebound<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Upon the cursèd tool of thy most wicked spite.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Forsooth, the branches of this wretched tree I'll wound</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And rob its pestilential blossoms of their might!"</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">So thus, she giveth vent unto her foaming ire,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And knowing not the changeless statutes of all times,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Herself, amid the flames of hell, prepares the pyre;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The consecrated penance of maternal crimes.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Yet 'neath th' invisible shelter of an Angel's wing</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">This sunlight-loving infant disinherited,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Exhales from all he eats and drinks, and everything</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The ever sweet ambrosia and the nectar red.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">He trifles with the winds and with the clouds that glide,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">About the way unto the Cross, he loves to sing,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The spirit on his pilgrimage; that faithful guide,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Oft weeps to see him joyful like a bird of Spring.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">All those that he would cherish shrink from him with fear,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And some that waxen bold by his tranquility,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Endeavour hard some grievance from his heart to tear,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And make on him the trial of their ferocity.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Within the bread and wine outspread for his repast</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To mingle dust and dirty spittle they essay,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And everything he touches, forth they slyly cast,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Or scourge themselves, if e'er their feet betrod his way.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">His wife goes round proclaiming in the crowded quads—</span><br /> +"Since he can find my body beauteous to behold,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Why not perform the office of those ancient gods</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And like unto them, redeck myself with shining gold?"</span><br /> +<br /> +"I'll bathe myself with incense, spikenard and myrrh,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">With genuflexions, delicate viandes and wine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To see, in jest, if from a heart, that loves me dear,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I cannot filch away the hommages divine."</span><br /> +<br /> +"And when of these impious jokes at length I tire,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">My frail but mighty hands, around his breast entwined,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">With nails, like harpies' nails, shall cunningly conspire</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The hidden path unto his feeble heart to find."</span><br /> +<br /> +"And like a youngling bird that trembles in its nest,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I'll pluck his heart right out; within its own blood drowned,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And finally to satiate my favourite beast,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I'll throw it with intense disdain upon the ground!"</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Towards the Heavens where he sees the sacred grail</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The poet calmly stretches forth his pious arms,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Whereon the lightenings from his lucid spirit veil</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The sight of the infuriated mob that swarms.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Oh blest be thou, Almighty who bestowest pain,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Like some divine redress for our infirmities,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And like the most refreshing and the purest rain,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To sanctify the strong, for saintly ecstasies."</span><br /> +<br /> +"I know that for the poet thou wilt grant a chair,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Among the Sainted Legion and the Blissful ones,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">That of the endless feast thou wilt accord his share</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To him, of Virtues, Dominations and of Thrones."</span><br /> +<br /> +"I know, that Sorrow is that nobleness alone,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Which never may corrupted be by hell nor curse,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I know, in order to enwreathe my mystic crown</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I must inspire the ages and the universe."</span><br /> +<br /> +"And yet the buried jewels of Palmyra old,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The undiscovered metals and the pearly sea</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Of gems, that unto me you show could never hold</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Beside this diadem of blinding brilliancy."</span><br /> +<br /> +"For it shall be engendered from the purest fire<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Of rays primeval, from the holy hearth amassed,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Of which the eyes of Mortals, in their sheen entire,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Are but the tarnished mirrors, sad and overcast!"</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Echoes" id="Echoes"></a>Echoes</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +In Nature's temple, living columns rise,<br /> +Which oftentimes give tongue to words subdued,<br /> +And Man traverses this symbolic wood,<br /> +Which looks at him with half familiar eyes,<br /> +<br /> +Like lingering echoes, which afar confound<br /> +Themselves in deep and sombre unity,<br /> +As vast as Night, and like transplendency,<br /> +The scents and colours to each other respond.<br /> +<br /> +And scents there are, like infant's flesh as chaste,<br /> +As sweet as oboes, and as meadows fair,<br /> +And others, proud, corrupted, rich and vast,<br /> +<br /> +Which have the expansion of infinity,<br /> +Like amber, musk and frankincense and myrrh,<br /> +That sing the soul's and senses' ecstasy.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Sick_Muse" id="The_Sick_Muse"></a>The Sick Muse</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Alas—my poor Muse—what aileth thee now?<br /> +Thine eyes are bedimmed with the visions of Night,<br /> +And silent and cold—I perceive on thy brow<br /> +In their turns—Despair and Madness alight.<br /> +<br /> +A succubus green, or a hobgoblin red,<br /> +Has it poured o'er thee Horror and Love from its urn?<br /> +Or the Nightmare with masterful bearing hath led<br /> +Thee to drown in the depths of some magic Minturne?<br /> +<br /> +I wish, as the health-giving fragrance I cull,<br /> +That thy breast with strong thoughts could for ever be full,<br /> +And that rhymthmic'ly flowing—thy Christian blood<br /> +<br /> +Could resemble the olden-time metrical-flood,<br /> +Where each in his turn reigned the father of Rhymes<br /> +Phoebus—and Pan, lord of Harvest-times.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Venal_Muse" id="The_Venal_Muse"></a>The Venal Muse</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Oh Muse of my heart—so fond of palaces old,<br /> +Wilt have—when New Year speeds its wintry blast,<br /> +Amid those tedious nights, with snow o'ercast,<br /> +A log to warm thy feet, benumbed with cold?<br /> +<br /> +Wilt thou thy marbled shoulders then revive<br /> +With nightly rays that through thy shutters peep?<br /> +And—void thy purse and void thy palace—reap<br /> +A golden hoard within some azure hive?<br /> +<br /> +Thou must, to earn thy daily bread, each night,<br /> +Suspend the censer like an acolyte,<br /> +Te-Deums sing, with sanctimonious ease,<br /> +<br /> +Or as a famished mountebank, with jokes obscene<br /> +Essay to lull the vulgar rabble's spleen;<br /> +Thy laughter soaked in tears which no one sees.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Evil_Monk" id="The_Evil_Monk"></a>The Evil Monk</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +The cloisters old, expounded on their walls<br /> +With paintings, the Beatic Verity,<br /> +The which—adorning their religious halls,<br /> +Enriched the frigidness of their Austerity.<br /> +<br /> +In days when Christian seeds bloomed o'er the land,<br /> +Full many a noble monk unknown to-day,<br /> +Upon the field of tombs would take his stand,<br /> +Exalting Death in rude and simple way.<br /> +<br /> +My soul is a tomb where—bad monk that I be—<br /> +I dwell and search its depths from all eternity,<br /> +And nought bedecks the walls of the odious spot.<br /> +<br /> +Oh sluggard monk! when shall I glean aright<br /> +From the living spectacle of my bitter lot,<br /> +To mold my handywork and mine eyes' Delight?<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Enemy" id="The_Enemy"></a>The Enemy</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +My childhood was nought but a ravaging storm,<br /> +Enlivened at times by a brilliant sun;<br /> +The rain and the winds wrought such havoc and harm<br /> +That of buds on my plot there remains hardly one.<br /> +<br /> +Behold now the Fall of ideas I have reached,<br /> +And the shovel and rake one must therefore resume,<br /> +In collecting the turf, inundated and breached,<br /> +Where the waters dug trenches as deep as a tomb.<br /> +<br /> +And yet these new blossoms, for which I craved,<br /> +Will they find in this earth—like a shore that is laved—<br /> +The mystical fuel which vigour imparts?<br /> +<br /> +Oh misery!—Time devours our lives,<br /> +And the enemy black, which consumeth our hearts<br /> +On the blood of our bodies, increases and thrives!<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Ill_Luck" id="Ill_Luck"></a>Ill Luck</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +This heavy burden to uplift,<br /> +O Sysiphus, thy pluck is required!<br /> +And even though the heart aspired,<br /> +Art is long and Time is swift.<br /> +<br /> +Afar from sepulchres renowned,<br /> +To a graveyard, quite apart,<br /> +Like a broken drum, my heart,<br /> +Beats the funeral marches' sound.<br /> +<br /> +Many a buried jewel sleeps<br /> +In the long-forgotten deeps,<br /> +Far from mattock and from sound;<br /> +<br /> +Many a flower wafts aloft<br /> +Its perfumes, like a secret soft,<br /> +Within the solitudes, profound.<br /> +</p> + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Interior_Life" id="Interior_Life"></a>Interior Life</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +A long while I dwelt beneath vast porticoes,<br /> +While the ocean-suns bathed with a thousand fires,<br /> +And which with their great and majestic spires,<br /> +At eventide looked like basaltic grottoes.<br /> +<br /> +The billows, in rolling depictured the skies,<br /> +And mingled, in solemn and mystical strain,<br /> +The all-mighteous chords of their luscious refrain<br /> +With the sun-set's colours reflexed in mine eyes.<br /> +<br /> +It is there that I lived in exalted calm,<br /> +In the midst of the azure, the splendour, the waves,<br /> +While pregnant with perfumes, naked slaves<br /> +<br /> +Refreshed my forehead with branches of palm,<br /> +Whose gentle and only care was to know<br /> +The secret that caused me to languish so.<br /> +</p> + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Man_and_the_Sea" id="Man_and_the_Sea"></a>Man and the Sea</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Free man! the sea is to thee ever dear!<br /> +The sea is thy mirror, thou regardest thy soul<br /> +In its mighteous waves that unendingly roll,<br /> +And thy spirit is yet not a chasm less drear.<br /> +<br /> +Thou delight'st to plunge deep in thine image down;<br /> +Thou tak'st it with eyes and with arms in embrace,<br /> +And at times thine own inward voice would'st efface<br /> +With the sound of its savage ungovernable moan.<br /> +<br /> +You are both of you, sombre, secretive and deep:<br /> +Oh mortal, thy depths are foraye unexplored,<br /> +Oh sea—no one knoweth thy dazzling hoard,<br /> +You both are so jealous your secrets to keep!<br /> +<br /> +And endless ages have wandered by,<br /> +Yet still without pity or mercy you fight,<br /> +So mighty in plunder and death your delight:<br /> +Oh wrestlers! so constant in enmity!<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Beauty" id="Beauty"></a>Beauty</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +I am lovely, O mortals, like a dream of stone,<br /> +And my bosom, where each one gets bruised in turn,<br /> +To inspire the love of a poet is prone,<br /> +Like matter eternally silent and stern.<br /> +<br /> +As an unfathomed sphinx, enthroned by the Nile,<br /> +My heart a swan's whiteness with granite combines,<br /> +And I hate every movement, displacing the lines,<br /> +And never I weep and never I smile.<br /> +<br /> +The poets in front of mine attitudes fine<br /> +(Which the proudest of monuments seem to implant),<br /> +To studies profound all their moments assign,<br /> +<br /> +For I have all these docile swains to enchant—<br /> +Two mirrors, which Beauty in all things ignite:<br /> +Mine eyes, my large eyes, of eternal Light!<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Ideal" id="The_Ideal"></a>The Ideal</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +It could ne'er be those beauties of ivory vignettes;<br /> +The varied display of a worthless age,<br /> +Nor puppet-like figures with castonets,<br /> +That ever an heart like mine could engage.<br /> +<br /> +I leave to Gavarni, that poet of chlorosis,<br /> +His hospital-beauties in troups that whirl,<br /> +For I cannot discover amid his pale roses<br /> +A flower to resemble my scarlet ideal.<br /> +<br /> +Since, what for this fathomless heart I require<br /> +Is—Lady Macbeth you! in crime so dire;<br /> +—An Æschylus dream transposed from the South—<br /> +<br /> +Or thee, oh great "Night" of Michael-Angelo born,<br /> +Who so calmly thy limbs in strange posture hath drawn,<br /> +Whose allurements are framed for a Titan's mouth.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Giantess" id="The_Giantess"></a>The Giantess</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +I should have loved—erewhile when Heaven conceived<br /> +Each day, some child abnormal and obscene,<br /> +Beside a maiden giantess to have lived,<br /> +Like a luxurious cat at the feet of a queen;<br /> +<br /> +To see her body flowering with her soul,<br /> +And grow, unchained, in awe-inspiring art,<br /> +Within the mists across her eyes that stole<br /> +To divine the fires entombed within her heart.<br /> +<br /> +And oft to scramble o'er her mighty limbs,<br /> +And climb the slopes of her enormous knees,<br /> +Or in summer when the scorching sunlight streams<br /> +<br /> +Across the country, to recline at ease,<br /> +And slumber in the shadow of her breast<br /> +Like an hamlet 'neath the mountain-crest.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Hymn_to_Beauty" id="Hymn_to_Beauty"></a>Hymn to Beauty</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +O Beauty! dost thou generate from Heaven or from Hell?<br /> +Within thy glance, so diabolic and divine,<br /> +Confusedly both wickedness and goodness dwell,<br /> +And hence one might compare thee unto sparkling wine.<br /> +<br /> +Thy look containeth both the dawn and sunset stars,<br /> +Thy perfumes, as upon a sultry night exhale,<br /> +Thy kiss a philter, and thy mouth a Grecian vase,<br /> +That renders heroes cowardly and infants hale.<br /> +<br /> +Yea, art thou from the planets, or the fiery womb?<br /> +The demon follows in thy train, with magic fraught,<br /> +Thou scatter'st seeds haphazardly of joy and doom,<br /> +Thou govern'st everything, but answer'st unto nought.<br /> +<br /> +O Loveliness! thou spurnest corpses with delight,<br /> +Among thy jewels, Horror hath such charms for thee,<br /> +And Murder 'mid thy mostly cherished trinklets bright,<br /> +Upon thy massive bosom dances amorously.<br /> +<br /> +The blinded, fluttering moth towards the candle flies,<br /> +Then frizzles, falls, and falters—"Blessings unto thee"—<br /> +The panting swain that o'er his beauteous mistress sighs,<br /> +Seems like the Sick, that stroke their gravestones lovingly.<br /> +<br /> +What matter, if thou comest from the Heavens or Hell,<br /> +O Beauty, frightful ghoul, ingenuous and obscure!<br /> +So long thine eyes, thy smile, to me the way can tell<br /> +Towards that Infinite I love, but never saw.<br /> +<br /> +From God or Satan? Angel, Mermaid, Proserpine?<br /> +What matter if thou makest—blithe, voluptuous sprite—<br /> +With rhythms, perfumes, visions—O mine only queen!—<br /> +The universe less hideous and the hours less trite.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Exotic_Perfume" id="Exotic_Perfume"></a>Exotic Perfume</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +When, with closed eyes, on a hot afternoon,<br /> +The scent of thine ardent breast I inhale,<br /> +Celestial vistas my spirit assail;<br /> +Caressed by the flames of an endless sun.<br /> +<br /> +A langorous island, where Nature abounds<br /> +With exotic trees and luscious fruit;<br /> +And with men whose bodies are slim and astute,<br /> +And with women whose frankness delights and astounds.<br /> +<br /> +By thy perfume enticed to this region remote,<br /> +A port I see, laden with mast and with boat,<br /> +Still wearied and torn by the distant brine;<br /> +<br /> +While the tamarisk-odours that dreamily throng<br /> +The air, round my slumberous senses intwine,<br /> +And mix, in my soul, with the mariners' song.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="La_Chevelure" id="La_Chevelure"></a>La Chevelure</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +O fleece, that foams down unto the shoulders bare!<br /> +O curls, O scents which lovely languidness exhale!<br /> +Delight! to fill this alcove's sombre atmosphere<br /> +With memories, sleeping deep within this tress of hair,<br /> +I'll wave it in the evening breezes like a veil!<br /> +<br /> +The shores of Africa, and Asia's burning skies,<br /> +A world forgotten, distant, nearly dead and spent,<br /> +Within thy depths, O aromatic forest! lies.<br /> +And like to spirits floating unto melodies,<br /> +Mine own, Belovèd! glides within thy sacred scent.<br /> +<br /> +There I will hasten, where the trees and humankind<br /> +With languor lull beside the hot and silent sea;<br /> +Strong tresses bear me, be to me the waves and wind!<br /> +Within thy fragrance lies a dazzling dream confined<br /> +Of sails and masts and flames—O lake of ebony!<br /> +<br /> +A loudly echoing harbour, where my soul may hold<br /> +To quaff, the silver cup of colours, scents and sounds,<br /> +Wherein the vessels glide upon a sea of gold,<br /> +And stretch their mighty arms, the glory to enfold<br /> +Of virgin skies, where never-ending heat abounds.<br /> +<br /> +I'll plunge my brow, enamoured with voluptuousness<br /> +Within this darkling ocean of infinitude,<br /> +Until my subtle spirit, which thy waves caress,<br /> +Shall find you once again, O fertile weariness;<br /> +Unending lullabye of perfumed lassitude!<br /> +<br /> +Ye tresses blue—recess of strange and sombre shades,<br /> +Ye make the azure of the starry Realm immense;<br /> +Upon the downy beeches, by your curls' cascades,<br /> +Among your mingling fragrances, my spirit wades<br /> +To cull the musk and cocoa-nut and lotus scents.<br /> +<br /> +Long—foraye—my hand, within thy heavy mane,<br /> +Shall scatter rubies, pearls, sapphires eternally,<br /> +And thus my soul's desire for thee shall never wane;<br /> +For art not thou the oasis where I dream and drain<br /> +With draughts profound, the golden wine of memory?<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Sonnet_XXVIII" id="Sonnet_XXVIII"></a>Sonnet XXVIII</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +With pearly robes that wave within the wind,<br /> +Even when she walks, she seems to dance,<br /> +Like swaying serpents round those wands entwined<br /> +Which fakirs ware in rhythmic elegance.<br /> +<br /> +So like the desert's Blue, and the sands remote,<br /> +Both, deaf to mortal suffering and to strife,<br /> +Or like the sea-weeds 'neath the waves that float,<br /> +Indifferently she moulds her budding life.<br /> +<br /> +Her polished eyes are made of minerals bright,<br /> +And in her mien, symbolical and cold,<br /> +Wherein an angel mingles with a sphinx of old,<br /> +<br /> +Where all is gold, and steel, and gems, and light,<br /> +There shines, just like a useless star eternally,<br /> +The sterile woman's frigid majesty.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Posthumous_Remorse" id="Posthumous_Remorse"></a>Posthumous Remorse</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Ah, when thou shalt slumber, my darkling love,<br /> +Beneath a black marble-made statuette,<br /> +And when thou'lt have nought for thy house or alcove,<br /> +But a cavernous den and a damp oubliette.<br /> +<br /> +When the tomb-stone, oppressing thy timorous breast,<br /> +And thy hips drooping sweetly with listless decay,<br /> +The pulse and desires of mine heart shall arrest,<br /> +And thy feet from pursuing their adventurous way,<br /> +<br /> +Then the grave, that dark friend of my limitless dreams<br /> +(For the grave ever readeth the poet aright),<br /> +Amid those long nights, which no slumber redeems<br /> +<br /> +'Twill query—"What use to thee, incomplete spright<br /> +That thou ne'er hast unfathomed the tears of the dead"?—<br /> +Then the worms will gnaw deep at thy body, like Dread.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Balcony" id="The_Balcony"></a>The Balcony</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Oh, Mother of Memories! Mistress of Mistresses!<br /> +Oh, thou all my pleasures, oh, thou all my prayers!<br /> +Can'st thou remember those luscious caresses,<br /> +The charm of the hearth and the sweet evening airs?<br /> +Oh, Mother, of Memories, Mistress of Mistresses!<br /> +<br /> +Those evenings illumed by the glow of the coal,<br /> +And those roseate nights with their vaporous wings,<br /> +How calm was thy breast and how good was thy soul,<br /> +'Twas then we uttered imperishable things,<br /> +Those evenings illumed by the glow of the coal.<br /> +<br /> +How lovely the suns on those hot, autumn nights!<br /> +How vast were the heavens! and the heart how hale!<br /> +As I leaned towards you—oh, my Queen of Delights,<br /> +The scent of thy blood I seemed to inhale.<br /> +How lovely the sun on those hot, autumn nights!<br /> +<br /> +The shadows of night-time grew dense like a pall,<br /> +And deep through the darkness thine eyes I divined,<br /> +And I drank of thy breath—oh sweetness, oh gall,<br /> +And thy feet in my brotherly hands reclined,<br /> +The shadows of Night-time grew dense like a pall.<br /> +<br /> +I know how to call forth those moments so dear,<br /> +And to live my Past—laid on thy knees—once more,<br /> +For where should I seek for thy beauties but here<br /> +In thy langorous heart and thy body so pure?<br /> +I know how to call forth those moments so dear.<br /> +<br /> +Those perfumes, those infinite kisses and sighs,<br /> +Are they born in some gulf to our plummets denied?<br /> +Like rejuvenate suns that mount up to the skies,<br /> +That first have been cleansed in the depths of the tide;<br /> +Oh, perfumes! oh, infinite kisses and sighs!<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Possessed_One" id="The_Possessed_One"></a>The Possessed One</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +The sun is enveloped in crape! like it,<br /> +O Moon of my Life! wrap thyself up in shade;<br /> +At will, smoke or slumber, be silent, be staid,<br /> +And dive deep down in Dispassion's dark pit.<br /> +<br /> +I cherish thee thus! But if 'tis thy mood,<br /> +Like a star that from out its penumbra appears,<br /> +To float in the regions where madness careers,<br /> +Fair dagger! burst forth from thy sheath! 'tis good.<br /> +<br /> +Yea, light up thine eyes at the Fire of Renown!<br /> +Or kindle desire by the looks of some clown!<br /> +Thine All is my joy, whether dull or aflame!<br /> +<br /> +Just be what thou wilt, black night, dawn divine,<br /> +There is not a nerve in my trembling frame<br /> +But cries, "I adore thee, Beelzebub mine!"<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Semper_Eadem" id="Semper_Eadem"></a>Semper Eadem</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +"From whence it comes, you ask, this gloom acute,<br /> +Like waves that o'er the rocky headland fall?"<br /> +—When once our hearts have gathered in their fruit,<br /> +To live is a curse! a secret known to all,<br /> +<br /> +A grief, quite simple, nought mysterious,<br /> +And like your joy—for all, both loud and shrill,<br /> +Nay cease to clamour, be not e'er so curious!<br /> +And yet although your voice is sweet, be still!<br /> +<br /> +Be still, O soul, with rapture ever rife!<br /> +O mouth, with the childish smile! Far more than Life,<br /> +The subtle bonds of Death around us twine.<br /> +<br /> +Let—let my heart, the wine of falsehood drink,<br /> +And dream-like, deep within your fair eyes sink,<br /> +And in the shade of thy lashes long recline!<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="All_Entire" id="All_Entire"></a>All Entire</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The Demon, in my lofty vault,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">This morning came to visit me,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And striving me to find at fault,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">He said, "Fain would I know of thee;</span><br /> +<br /> +"Among the many beauteous things,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">—All which <i>her</i> subtle grace proclaim—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Among the dark and rosy things,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Which go to make her charming frame,</span><br /> +<br /> +"Which is the sweetest unto thee"?<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">My soul! to Him thou didst retort—</span><br /> +"Since all with her is destiny,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Of preference there can be nought.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">When all transports me with delight,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">If aught deludes I can not know,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">She either lulls one like the Night,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Or dazzles like the Morning-glow.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">That harmony is too divine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Which governs all her body fair,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">For powerless mortals to define</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">In notes the many concords there.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">O mystic metamorphosis</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Of all my senses blent in one!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Her voice a beauteous perfume is,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Her breath makes music, chaste and wan.</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Sonnet_XLIII" id="Sonnet_XLIII"></a>Sonnet XLIII</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +What sayest thou, to-night, poor soul so drear,<br /> +What sayest—heart erewhile engulfed in gloom,<br /> +To the very lovely, very chaste, and very dear,<br /> +Whose god-like look hath made thee to re-bloom?<br /> +<br /> +To her, with pride we chant an echoing Hymn,<br /> +For nought can touch the sweetness of her sway;<br /> +Her flesh ethereal as the seraphim,<br /> +Her eyes with robe of light our souls array.<br /> +<br /> +And be it in the night, or solitude,<br /> +Among the streets or 'mid the multitude,<br /> +Her shadow, torch-like, dances in the air,<br /> +<br /> +And murmurs, "I, the Beautiful proclaim—<br /> +That for my sake, alone ye love the Fair;<br /> +I am the Guardian Angel, Muse and Dame!"<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Living_Torch" id="The_Living_Torch"></a>The Living Torch</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +They stand before me now, those eyes that shine,<br /> +No doubt inspired by an Angel wise;<br /> +They stand, those God-like brothers that are mine,<br /> +And pour their diamond fires in mine eyes.<br /> +<br /> +From all transgressions, from all snares, they save,<br /> +Towards the Path of Joy they guide my ways;<br /> +They are my servants, and I am their slave;<br /> +And all my soul, this living torch obeys.<br /> +<br /> +Ye charming Eyes—ye have those mystic beams,<br /> +Of candles, burning in full day; the sun<br /> +Awakes, yet kills not their fantastic gleams:<br /> +<br /> +Ye sing the Awak'ning, they the dark oblivion;<br /> +The Awak'ning of my spirit ye proclaim,<br /> +O stars—no sun can ever kill your flame!<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Spiritual_Dawn" id="The_Spiritual_Dawn"></a>The Spiritual Dawn</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +When the morning white and rosy breaks,<br /> +With the gnawing Ideal, upon the debauchee,<br /> +By the power of a strange decree,<br /> +Within the sotted beast an Angel wakes.<br /> +<br /> +The mental Heaven's inaccessible blue,<br /> +For wearied mortals that still dream and mourn,<br /> +Expands and sinks; towards the chasm drawn.<br /> +Thus, cherished goddess, Being pure and true—<br /> +<br /> +Upon the rests of foolish orgy-nights<br /> +Thine image, more sublime, more pink, more clear,<br /> +Before my staring eyes is ever there.<br /> +<br /> +The sun has darkened all the candle lights;<br /> +And thus thy spectre like the immortal sun,<br /> +Is ever victorious—thou resplendent one!<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Evening_Harmony" id="Evening_Harmony"></a>Evening Harmony</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +The hour approacheth, when, as their stems incline,<br /> +The flowers evaporate like an incense urn,<br /> +And sounds and scents in the vesper breezes turn;<br /> +A melancholy waltz—and a drowsiness divine.<br /> +<br /> +The flowers evaporate like an incense urn,<br /> +The viol vibrates like the wailing of souls that repine.<br /> +A melancholy waltz—and a drowsiness divine,<br /> +The skies like a mosque are beautiful and stern.<br /> +<br /> +The viol vibrates like the wailing of souls that repine;<br /> +Sweet souls that shrink from chaos vast and etern,<br /> +The skies like a mosque are beautiful and stern,<br /> +The sunset drowns within its blood-red brine.<br /> +<br /> +Sweet souls that shrink from chaos vast and etern,<br /> +Essay the wreaths of their faded Past to entwine,<br /> +The sunset drowns within its blood-red brine,<br /> +Thy thought within me glows like an incense urn.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Overcast_Sky" id="Overcast_Sky"></a>Overcast Sky</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Meseemeth thy glance, soft enshrouded with dew,<br /> +Thy mysterious eyes (are they grey, green or blue?),<br /> +Alternately cruel, and tender, and shy,<br /> +Reflect both the languor and calm of the sky.<br /> +<br /> +Thou recallest those white days—with shadows caressed,<br /> +Engendering tears from th' enraptured breast,<br /> +When racked by an anguish unfathomed that weeps,<br /> +The nerves, too awake, jibe the spirit that sleeps.<br /> +<br /> +At times—thou art like those horizons divine,<br /> +Where the suns of the nebulous seasons decline;<br /> +How resplendent art thou—O pasturage vast,<br /> +Illumed by the beams of a sky overcast!<br /> +<br /> +O! dangerous dame—oh seductive clime!<br /> +As well, will I love both thy snow and thy rime,<br /> +And shall I know how from the frosts to entice<br /> +Delights that are keener than iron and ice?<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Invitation_to_a_Journey" id="Invitation_to_a_Journey"></a>Invitation to a Journey</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">My sister, my dear</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Consider how fair,</span><br /> +Together to live it would be!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Down yonder to fly</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">To love, till we die,</span><br /> +In the land which resembles thee.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Those suns that rise</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">'Neath erratic skies,</span><br /> +—No charm could be like unto theirs—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">So strange and divine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Like those eyes of thine</span><br /> +Which glow in the midst of their tears.<br /> +<br /> +There, all is order and loveliness,<br /> +Luxury, calm and voluptuousness.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The tables and chairs,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Polished bright by the years,</span><br /> +Would decorate sweetly our rooms,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And the rarest of flowers</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Would twine round our bowers</span><br /> +And mingle their amber perfumes:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The ceilings arrayed,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">And the mirrors inlaid,</span><br /> +This Eastern splendour among,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Would furtively steal</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">O'er our souls, and appeal</span><br /> +With its tranquillous native tongue.<br /> +<br /> +There, all is order and loveliness,<br /> +Luxury, calm and voluptuousness.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In the harbours, peep,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">At the vessels asleep</span><br /> +(Their humour is always to roam),<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Yet it is but to grant</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Thy smallest want</span><br /> +From the ends of the earth that they come,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The sunsets beam</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Upon meadow and stream,</span><br /> +And upon the city entire<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">'Neath a violet crest,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The world sinks to rest,</span><br /> +Illumed by a golden fire.<br /> +<br /> +There, all is order and loveliness,<br /> +Luxury, calm and voluptuousness.<br /> +</p> + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Causerie" id="Causerie"></a>"Causerie"</h3> + +<p class="margin-b"> +You are a roseate autumn-sky, that glows!<br /> +Yet sadness rises in me like the flood,<br /> +And leaves in ebbing on my lips morose,<br /> +The poignant memory of its bitter mind.<br /> +<br /> +In vain your hands my swooning breast embrace,<br /> +Oh, friend! alone remains the plundered spot,<br /> +Where woman's biting grip has left its trace:<br /> +My heart, the beasts devoured--seek it not!<br /> +<br /> +My heart is a palace pillaged by the herd;<br /> +They kill and take each other by the throat!<br /> +A perfume glides around your bosom bared--<br /> +<br /> +O loveliness, thou scourge of souls--devote<br /> +Thine eyes of fire--luminous-like feasts,<br /> +To burn these rags--rejected by the beasts!<br /> +</p> + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Autumn_Song" id="Autumn_Song"></a>Autumn Song</h3> + +<p class="margin-b"> +I<br /> +<br /> +Shortly we will plunge within the frigid gloom,<br /> +Farewell swift summer brightness; all too short--<br /> +I hear already sounding with a death-like boom<br /> +The wood that falls upon the pavement of the court.<br /> +<br /> +The whole of winter enters in my Being--pain,<br /> +Hate, honor, labour hard and forced--and dread,<br /> +And like the northern sun upon its polar plane<br /> +My heart will soon be but a stone, iced and red.<br /> +<br /> +I listen trembling unto every log that falls,<br /> +The scaffold, which they build, has not a duller sound,<br /> +My spirits waver, like the trembling tower walls<br /> +that shake--with every echoing blow the builders pound.<br /> +<br /> +Meeseemeth--as to these monotonous blows I sway,<br /> +They nail for one a coffin lid, or sound a knell--<br /> +For whom? Autumn now--and summer yesterday!<br /> +This strange mysterious noise betokens a farewell.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +II<br /> +<br /> +I love within your oblong eyes the verdant rays,<br /> +My sweet! but bitter everything to-day meseems:<br /> +And nought--your love, the boudoir, nor the flickering blaze,<br /> +Can replace the sun that o'er the screen streams.<br /> +<br /> +And yet bemother and caress me, tender heart!<br /> +Even me the thankless and the worthless one;<br /> +Beloved or sister--unto me the sweets impart<br /> +Of a glorious autumn or a sinking sun.<br /> +<br /> +Ephemeral task! the beckoning the beckoning empty tomb is set!<br /> +Oh grant me--as upon your knees my head I lay,<br /> +(Because the white and torrid summer I regret),<br /> +To taste the parted season's mild and amber ray.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Sisina" id="Sisina"></a>Sisina</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Imagine Diana in gorgeous array,<br /> +How into the forests and thickets she flies,<br /> +With her hair in the breezes, and flushed for the fray,<br /> +How the very best riders she proudly defies.<br /> +<br /> +Have you seen Théroigne, of the blood-thirsty heart,<br /> +As an unshod herd to attack he bestirs,<br /> +With cheeks all inflamed, playing up to his part,<br /> +As he goes, sword in hand, up the royal stairs?<br /> +<br /> +And so is Sisina—yet this warrior sweet,<br /> +Has a soul with compassion and kindness replete,<br /> +Inspired by drums and by powder, her sway<br /> +<br /> +Knows how to concede to the supplicants' prayers,<br /> +And her bosom, laid waste by the flames, has alway,<br /> +For those that are worthy, a fountain of tears.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="To_a_Creolean_Lady" id="To_a_Creolean_Lady"></a>To a Creolean Lady</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +In a country perfumed with the sun's embrace,<br /> +I knew 'neath a dais of purpled palms,<br /> +And branches where idleness weeps o'er one's face,<br /> +A Creolean lady of unknown charms.<br /> +<br /> +Her tint, pale and warm—this bewitching bride,<br /> +Displays a nobly nurtured mien,<br /> +Courageous and grand like a huntsman, her stride;<br /> +A tranquil smile and eyes serene.<br /> +<br /> +If, madam, you'd go to the true land of gain,<br /> +By the banks of the verdant Loire or the Seine,<br /> +How worthy to garnish some pile of renown.<br /> +<br /> +You'd awake in the calm of some shadowy nest,<br /> +A thousand songs in the poet's breast,<br /> +That your eyes would inspire far more than your brown.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Moesta_et_Errabunda" id="Moesta_et_Errabunda"></a>Moesta et Errabunda</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Oh, Agatha, tell! does thy heart not at times fly away?<br /> +Far from the city impure and the lowering sea,<br /> +To another ocean that blinds with its dazzling array,<br /> +So blue and so clear and profound, like virginity?<br /> +Oh, Agatha, tell! does thy heart not at times fly away?<br /> +<br /> +The sea, the vast ocean our travail and trouble consoles!<br /> +What demon hath gifted the sea with a voice from on high,<br /> +To sing us (attuned to an Æolus-organ that rolls<br /> +Forth a grumbling burden) a lenitive lullabye?<br /> +The sea, the vast ocean our travail and trouble consoles!<br /> +<br /> +Oh, carry me, waggons, oh, sailing-ships, help me depart!<br /> +Far, far, here the dust is quite wet with our showering tears,<br /> +Oh, say! it is true that Agatha's desolate heart,<br /> +Proclaimeth, "Away from remorse, and from crimes, and from cares,"<br /> +Oh, carry me, waggons, oh, sailing ships, help me depart!<br /> +<br /> +How distant you seem to be, perfumed Elysian fields!<br /> +Wherein there is nothing but sunshine and love and glee;<br /> +Where all that one loves is so worthy, and lovingly yields,<br /> +And our hearts float about in the purest of ecstasy,<br /> +How distant you seem to be, perfumed Elysian fields!<br /> +<br /> +But the green paradise of those transient infantile loves,<br /> +The strolls, and the songs, and the kisses, and bunches of flowers,<br /> +The viols vibrating beyond, in the mountainous groves,<br /> +With the chalice of wine and the evening, entwined, in the bowers,<br /> +But the green paradise of those transient infantile loves.<br /> +<br /> +That innocent heaven o'erflowing with furtive delight,<br /> +Than China or India, is it still further away?<br /> +Or, could one with pityful prayers bring it back to our sight?<br /> +Or yet with a silvery voice o'er the ages convey<br /> +That innocent heaven o'erflowing with furtive delight!<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Ghost" id="The_Ghost"></a>The Ghost</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Just like an angel with evil eye,<br /> +I shall return to thee silently,<br /> +Upon thy bower I'll alight,<br /> +With falling shadows of the night.<br /> +<br /> +With thee, my brownie, I'll commune,<br /> +And give thee kisses cold as the moon,<br /> +And with a serpent's moist embrace,<br /> +I'll crawl around thy resting-place.<br /> +<br /> +And when the livid morning falls,<br /> +Thou'lt find alone the empty walls,<br /> +And till the evening, cold 'twill be.<br /> +<br /> +As others with their tenderness,<br /> +Upon thy life and youthfulness,<br /> +I'll reign alone with dread o'er thee.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Autumn_Song_1" id="Autumn_Song_1"></a>Autumn Song</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +They ask me—thy crystalline eyes, so acute,<br /> +"Odd lover—why am I to thee so dear?"<br /> +—Be sweet and keep silent, my heart, which is sear,<br /> +For all save the rude and untutored brute,<br /> +<br /> +Is loth its infernal depths to reveal,<br /> +And its dissolute motto engraven with fire,<br /> +Oh charmer! whose arms endless slumber inspire!<br /> +I abominate passion and wit makes me ill.<br /> +<br /> +So let us love gently. Within his retreat,<br /> +Foreboding, Love seeks for his arrows a prey,<br /> +I know all the arms of his battle array.<br /> +<br /> +Delirium and loathing—O pale Marguerite!<br /> +Like me, art thou not an autumnal ray,<br /> +Alas my so white, my so cold Marguerite!<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Sadness_of_the_Moon-Goddess" id="Sadness_of_the_Moon-Goddess"></a>Sadness of the Moon-Goddess</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +To-night the Moon dreams with increased weariness,<br /> +Like a beauty stretched forth on a downy heap<br /> +Of rugs, while her languorous fingers caress<br /> +The contour of her breasts, before falling to sleep.<br /> +<br /> +On the satin back of the avalanche soft,<br /> +She falls into lingering swoons, as she dies,<br /> +While she lifteth her eyes to white visions aloft,<br /> +Which like efflorescence float up to the skies.<br /> +<br /> +When at times, in her languor, down on to this sphere,<br /> +She slyly lets trickle a furtive tear,<br /> +A poet, desiring slumber to shun,<br /> +<br /> +Takes up this pale tear in the palm of his hand<br /> +(The colours of which like an opal blend),<br /> +And buries it far from the eyes of the sun.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Cats" id="Cats"></a>Cats</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +All ardent lovers and all sages prize,<br /> +—As ripening years incline upon their brows—<br /> +The mild and mighty cats—pride of the house—<br /> +That like unto them are indolent, stern and wise.<br /> +<br /> +The friends of Learning and of Ecstasy,<br /> +They search for silence and the horrors of gloom;<br /> +The devil had used them for his steeds of Doom,<br /> +Could he alone have bent their pride to slavery.<br /> +<br /> +When musing, they display those outlines chaste,<br /> +Of the great sphinxes—stretched o'er the sandy waste,<br /> +That seem to slumber deep in a dream without end:<br /> +<br /> +From out their loins a fountainous furnace flies,<br /> +And grains of sparkling gold, as fine as sand,<br /> +Bestar the mystic pupils of their eyes.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Owls" id="Owls"></a>Owls</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Beneath the shades of sombre yews,<br /> +The silent owls sit ranged in rows,<br /> +Like ancient idols, strangely pose,<br /> +And darting fiery eyes, they muse.<br /> +<br /> +Immovable, they sit and gaze,<br /> +Until the melancholy hour,<br /> +At which the darknesses devour<br /> +The faded sunset's slanting rays.<br /> +<br /> +Their attitude, instructs the wise,<br /> +That he—within this world—who flies<br /> +From tumult and from merriment;<br /> +<br /> +The man allured by a passing face,<br /> +For ever bears the chastisement<br /> +Of having wished to change his place.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Music" id="Music"></a>Music</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Oft Music possesses me like the seas!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">To my planet pale,</span><br /> +'Neath a ceiling of mist, in the lofty breeze,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">I set my sail.</span><br /> +<br /> +With inflated lungs and expanded chest,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Like to a sail,</span><br /> +On the backs of the heaped-up billows I rest—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Which the shadows veil—</span><br /> +<br /> +I feel all the anguish within me arise<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Of a ship in distress;</span><br /> +The tempest, the rain, 'neath the lowering skies,<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">My body caress;</span><br /> +At times, the calm pool or the mirror clear<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Of my despair!</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Joyous_Defunct" id="The_Joyous_Defunct"></a>The Joyous Defunct</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Where snails abound—in a juicy soil,<br /> +I will dig for myself a fathomless grave,<br /> +Where at leisure mine ancient bones I can coil,<br /> +And sleep—quite forgotten—like a shark 'neath the wave.<br /> +<br /> +I hate every tomb—I abominate wills,<br /> +And rather than tears from the world to implore,<br /> +I would ask of the crows with their vampire bills<br /> +To devour every bit of my carcass impure.<br /> +<br /> +Oh worms, without eyes, without ears, black friends!<br /> +To you a defunct-one, rejoicing, descends,<br /> +Enlivened Philosophers—offspring of Dung!<br /> +<br /> +Without any qualms, o'er my wreckage spread,<br /> +And tell if some torment there still can be wrung<br /> +For this soul-less old frame that is dead 'midst the dead!<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Broken_Bell" id="The_Broken_Bell"></a>The Broken Bell</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +How sweet and bitter, on a winter night,<br /> +Beside the palpitating fire to list,<br /> +As, slowly, distant memories alight,<br /> +To sounds of chimes that sing across the mist.<br /> +<br /> +Oh, happy is that bell with hearty throat,<br /> +Which neither age nor time can e'er defeat,<br /> +Which faithfully uplifts its pious note,<br /> +Like an agèd soldier on his beat.<br /> +<br /> +For me, my soul is cracked, and 'mid her cares,<br /> +Would often fill with her songs the midnight airs<br /> +And oft it chances that her feeble moan<br /> +<br /> +Is like the wounded warrior's fainting groan,<br /> +Who by a lake of blood, 'neath bodies slain,<br /> +In anguish falls, and never moves again.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Spleen" id="Spleen"></a>Spleen</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +The rainy moon of all the world is weary,<br /> +And from its urn a gloomy cold pours down,<br /> +Upon the pallid inmates of the mortuary,<br /> +And on the neighbouring outskirts of the town.<br /> +<br /> +My wasted cat, in searching for a litter,<br /> +Bestirs its mangy paws from post to post;<br /> +(A poet's soul that wanders in the gutter,<br /> +With the jaded voice of a shiv'ring ghost).<br /> +<br /> +The smoking pine-log, while the drone laments,<br /> +Accompanies the wheezy pendulum,<br /> +The while amidst a haze of dirty scents,<br /> +<br /> +—Those fatal remnants of a sick man's room—<br /> +The gallant knave of hearts and queen of spades<br /> +Relate their ancient amorous escapades.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Obsession" id="Obsession"></a>Obsession</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Great forests, you alarm me like a mighty fane;<br /> +Like organ-tones you roar, and in our hearts of stone,<br /> +Where ancient sobs vibrate, O halls of endless pain!<br /> +The answering echoes of your "De Profundis" moan.<br /> +<br /> +I hate thee, Ocean! hate thy tumults and thy throbs,<br /> +My spirit finds them in himself. This bitter glee<br /> +Of vanquished mortals, full of insults and of sobs,<br /> +I hear it in the mighteous laughter of the sea.<br /> +<br /> +O starless night! thy loveliness my soul inhales,<br /> +Without those starry rays which speak a language known,<br /> +For I desire the dark, the naked and the lone.<br /> +<br /> +But e'en those darknesses themselves to me are veils,<br /> +Where live—and, by the millions 'neath my eyelids prance,<br /> +Long, long departed Beings with familiar glance.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Magnetic_Horror" id="Magnetic_Horror"></a>Magnetic Horror</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +"Beneath this sky, so livid and strange,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Tormented like thy destiny,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">What thoughts within thy spirit range</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Themselves?—O libertine reply."</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">—With vain desires, for ever torn</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Towards the uncertain, and the vast,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And yet, like Ovid—I'll not mourn—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Who from his Roman Heaven was cast.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">O heavens, turbulent as the streams,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">In you I mirror forth my pride!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Your clouds, which clad in mourning, glide,</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Are the hearses of my dreams,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And in your illusion lies the hell,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Wherein my heart delights to dwell.</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Lid" id="The_Lid"></a>The Lid</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Where'er he may rove, upon sea or on land,<br /> +'Neath a fiery sky or a pallid sun,<br /> +Be he Christian or one of Cythera's band,<br /> +Opulent Croesus or beggar—'tis one,<br /> +<br /> +Whether citizen, peasant or vagabond he,<br /> +Be his little brain active or dull. Everywhere,<br /> +Man feels the terror of mystery,<br /> +And looks upon high with a glance full of fear.<br /> +<br /> +The Heaven above, that oppressive wall;<br /> +A ceiling lit up in some lewd music hall,<br /> +Where the actors step forth on a blood-red soil;<br /> +<br /> +The eremite's hope, and the dread of the sot,<br /> +The Sky; that black lid of a mighty pot,<br /> +Where, vast and minute, human Races boil.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Berthas_Eyes" id="Berthas_Eyes"></a>Bertha's Eyes</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +The loveliest eyes you can scorn with your wondrous glow:<br /> +O! beautiful childish eyes there abounds in your light,<br /> +A something unspeakably tender and good as the night:<br /> +O! eyes! over me your enchanting darkness let flow.<br /> +<br /> +Large eyes of my child! O Arcana profoundly adored!<br /> +Ye resemble so closely those caves in the magical creek;<br /> +Where within the deep slumbering shade of some petrified peak,<br /> +There shines, undiscovered, the gems of a dazzling hoard.<br /> +<br /> +My child has got eyes so profound and so dark and so vast,<br /> +Like thee! oh unending Night, and thy mystical shine:<br /> +Their flames are those thoughts that with Love and with Faith combine,<br /> +And sparkle deep down in the depths so alluring or chaste.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Set_of_the_Romantic_Sun" id="The_Set_of_the_Romantic_Sun"></a>The Set of the Romantic Sun</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +How beauteous the sun as it rises supreme,<br /> +Like an explosion that greets us from above,<br /> +Oh, happy is he that can hail with love,<br /> +Its decline, more glorious far, than a dream.<br /> +<br /> +I saw flower, furrow, and brook.... I recall<br /> +How they swooned like a tremulous heart 'neath the sun,<br /> +Let us haste to the sky-line, 'tis late, let us run,<br /> +At least to catch one slanting ray ere it fall.<br /> +<br /> +But the god, who eludes me, I chase all in vain,<br /> +The night, irresistible, plants its domain,<br /> +Black mists and vague shivers of death it forbodes;<br /> +<br /> +While an odour of graves through the darkness spreads,<br /> +And on the swamp's margin, my timid foot treads<br /> +Upon slimy snails, and on unseen toads.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Meditation" id="Meditation"></a>Meditation</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Be wise, O my Woe, seek thy grievance to drown,<br /> +Thou didst call for the night, and behold it is here,<br /> +An atmosphere sombre, envelopes the town,<br /> +To some bringing peace and to others a care.<br /> +<br /> +Whilst the manifold souls of the vile multitude,<br /> +'Neath the lash of enjoyment, that merciless sway,<br /> +Go plucking remorse from the menial brood,<br /> +From them far, O my grief, hold my hand, come this way.<br /> +<br /> +Behold how they beckon, those years, long expired,<br /> +From Heaven, in faded apparel attired,<br /> +How Regret, smiling, foams on the waters like yeast;<br /> +<br /> +Its arches of slumber the dying sun spreads,<br /> +And like a long winding-sheet dragged to the East,<br /> +Oh, hearken Beloved, how the Night softly treads!<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="To_a_Passer-by" id="To_a_Passer-by"></a>To a Passer-by</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Around me thundered the deafening noise of the street,<br /> +In mourning apparel, portraying majestic distress,<br /> +With queenly fingers, just lifting the hem of her dress,<br /> +A stately woman passed by with hurrying feet.<br /> +<br /> +Agile and noble, with limbs of perfect poise,<br /> +Ah, how I drank, thrilled through like a Being insane,<br /> +In her look, a dark sky, from whence springs forth the hurricane,<br /> +There lay but the sweetness that charms, and the joy that destroys.<br /> +<br /> +A flash—then the night.... O loveliness fugitive!<br /> +Whose glance has so suddenly caused me again to live,<br /> +Shall I not see you again till this life is o'er!<br /> +<br /> +Elsewhere, far away ... too late, perhaps never more,<br /> +For I know not whither you fly, nor you, where I go,<br /> +O soul that I would have loved, and <i>that</i> you know!<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Illusionary_Love" id="Illusionary_Love"></a>Illusionary Love</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +When I behold thee wander by, my languorous love,<br /> +To songs of viols which throughout the dome resound,<br /> +Harmonious and stately as thy footsteps move,<br /> +Bestowing forth the languor of thy glance profound.<br /> +<br /> +When I regard thee, glowing in the gaslight rays,<br /> +Thy pallid brow embellished by a charm obscure,<br /> +Here where the evening torches light the twilight haze,<br /> +Thine eyes attracting me like those of a portraiture,<br /> +<br /> +I say—How beautiful she is! how strangely rich!<br /> +A mighty memory, royal and commanding tower,<br /> +A garland: and her heart, bruised like a ruddy peach,<br /> +Is ripe—like her body for Love's sapient power.<br /> +<br /> +Art thou, that spicy Autumn-fruit with taste supreme?<br /> +Art thou a funeral vase inviting tears of grief?<br /> +Aroma—causing one of Eastern wastes to dream;<br /> +A downy cushion, bunch of flowers or golden sheaf?<br /> +<br /> +I know that there are eyes, most melancholy ones,<br /> +Wherein no precious secret deeply hidden lies,<br /> +Resplendent shrines, devoid of relics, sacred stones,<br /> +More empty, more profound than ye yourselves, O skies?<br /> +<br /> +Yea, does thy semblance, not alone for me suffice,<br /> +To kindle senses which the cruel truth abhor?<br /> +All one to me! thy folly or thy heart of ice,<br /> +Decoy or mask, all hail! thy beauty I adore!<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Mists_and_Rains" id="Mists_and_Rains"></a>Mists and Rains</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +O last of Autumn and Winter—steeped in haze,<br /> +O sleepy seasons! you I love and praise,<br /> +Because around my heart and brain you twine<br /> +A misty winding-sheet and a nebulous shrine.<br /> +<br /> +On that great plain, where frigid blasts abound,<br /> +Where through the nights, so long, the vane whirls round,<br /> +My soul, more free than in the springtime soft,<br /> +Will stretch her raven wings and soar aloft,<br /> +<br /> +Unto an heart with gloomy things replete,<br /> +On which remain the frosts of former Times,<br /> +O pallid seasons, mistress of our climes<br /> +<br /> +As your pale shadows—nothing is so sweet,<br /> +Unless it be, on a moonless night a-twain,<br /> +On some chance couch to soothe to sleep our Pain.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Wine_of_Lovers" id="The_Wine_of_Lovers"></a>The Wine of Lovers</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +To-day the Distance is superb,<br /> +Without bridle, spur or curb,<br /> +Let us mount on the back of wine<br /> +For Regions fairy and divine!<br /> +<br /> +Let's, like two angels tortured by<br /> +Some dark, delirious phantasy,<br /> +Pursue the distant mirage drawn<br /> +O'er the blue crystal of the dawn!<br /> +<br /> +And gently balanced on the wing<br /> +Of some obliging whirlwind, we<br /> +—In equal rapture revelling—<br /> +<br /> +My sister, side by side will flee,<br /> +Without repose, nor truce, where gleams<br /> +The golden Paradise of my dreams!<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="Condemned_Women" id="Condemned_Women"></a>Condemned Women</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +Like thoughtful cattle on the yellow sands reclined,<br /> +They turn their eyes towards the horizon of the sea,<br /> +Their feet towards each other stretched, their hands entwined,<br /> +They tell of gentle yearning, frigid misery.<br /> +<br /> +A few, with heart-confiding faith of old, imbued<br /> +Amid the darkling grove, where silver streamlets flow,<br /> +Unfold to each their loves of tender infanthood,<br /> +And carve the verdant stems of the vine-kissed portico.<br /> +<br /> +And others like unto nuns with footsteps slow and grave,<br /> +Ascend the hallowed rocks of ancient mystic lore,<br /> +Where long ago—St. Anthony, like a surging wave,<br /> +The naked purpled breasts of his temptation saw.<br /> +<br /> +And still some more, that 'neath the shimmering masses stroll,<br /> +Among the silent chasm of some pagan caves,<br /> +To soothe their burning fevers unto thee they call<br /> +O Bacchus! who all ancient wounds and sorrow laves.<br /> +<br /> +And others again, whose necks in scapulars delight,<br /> +Who hide a whip beneath their garments secretly,<br /> +Commingling, in the sombre wood and lonesome night,<br /> +The foam of torments and of tears with ecstasy.<br /> +<br /> +O virgins, demons, monsters, and O martyred brood!<br /> +Great souls that mock Reality with remorseless sneers,<br /> +O saints and satyrs, searchers for infinitude!<br /> +At times so full of shouts, at times so full of tears!<br /> +<br /> +You, to whom within your hell my spirit flies,<br /> +Poor sisters—yea, I love you as I pity you,<br /> +For your unsatiated thirsts and anguished sighs,<br /> +And for the vials of love within your hearts so true.<br /> +</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Death_of_the_Lovers" id="The_Death_of_the_Lovers"></a>The Death of the Lovers</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +We will have beds which exhale odours soft,<br /> +We will have divans profound as the tomb,<br /> +And delicate plants on the ledges aloft,<br /> +Which under the bluest of skies for us bloom.<br /> +<br /> +Exhausting our hearts to their last desires,<br /> +They both shall be like unto two glowing coals,<br /> +Reflecting the twofold light of their fires<br /> +Across the twin mirrors of our two souls.<br /> +<br /> +One evening of mystical azure skies,<br /> +We'll exchange but one single lightning flash,<br /> +Just like a long sob—replete with good byes.<br /> +<br /> +And later an angel shall joyously pass<br /> +Through the half-open doors, to replenish and wash<br /> +The torches expired, and the tarnished glass.<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> +<h3><a name="The_Death_of_the_Poor" id="The_Death_of_the_Poor"></a>The Death of the Poor</h3> + + +<p class="margin-b"> +It is Death that consoles—yea, and causes our lives;<br /> +'Tis the goal of this Life—and of Hope the sole ray,<br /> +Which like a strong potion enlivens and gives<br /> +Us the strength to plod on to the end of the day.<br /> +<br /> +And all through the tempest, the frost and the snows,<br /> +'Tis the shimmering light on our black sky-line;<br /> +'Tis the famous inn which the guide-book shows,<br /> +Whereat one can eat, and sleep, and recline;<br /> +<br /> +'Tis an angel that holds in his magic hands<br /> +The sleep, which ecstatic dream commands,<br /> +Who remakes up the beds of the naked and poor;<br /> +<br /> +'Tis the fame of the gods, 'tis the granary blest,<br /> +'Tis the purse of the poor, and his birth-place of rest,<br /> +To the unknown Heavens, 'tis the wide-open door.<br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> + + + + + + + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 36098 ***</div> + +</body> +</html> |