Author: Charles Baudelaire

My youth was nothing but a black storm Crossed now and then by brilliant suns. The thunder and the rain […]

LONG since, I lived beneath vast porticoes, By many ocean-sunsets tinged and fired, Where mighty pillars, in majestic rows, Seemed […]

THOU, O my Grief, be wise and tranquil still, The eve is thine which even now drops down, To carry […]

When, by decree of the supreme power, The Poet appears in this annoyed world, His mother, blasphemous out of horror […]

Mon enfant, ma soeur, Songe à la douceur, D’aller là-bas, vivre ensemble! Aimer à loisir, Aimer et mourir, Au pays […]

I love the naked ages long ago When statues were gilded by Apollo, When men and women of agility Could […]

HERE is the chamber consecrate, Wherein this maiden delicate, And enigmatically sedate, Fans herself while the moments creep, Upon her […]

Voici venir les temps oщ vibrant sur sa tige Chaque fleur s’йvapore ainsi qu’un encensoir; Les sons et les parfums […]

Nature is a temple where the living pillars Let go sometimes a blurred speech- A Forest of symbols passes through […]

AN we suppress the old Remorse Who bends our heart beneath his stroke, Who feeds, as worms feed on the […]

Morne esprit, autrefois amoureux de la lutte, L’Espoir, dont l’éperon attisait ton ardeur, Ne veut plus t’enfourcher! Couche-toi sans pudeur, […]

Quand le ciel bas et lourd pèse comme un couvercle Sur l’esprit gémissant en proie aux longs ennuis, Et que […]

O SWARMING city, city full of dreams, Where in a full day the spectre walks and speaks; Mighty colossus, in […]

YOU are a sky of autumn, pale and rose; But all the sea of sadness in my blood Surges, and […]

Rappelez-vous l’objet que nous vîmes, mon âme, Ce beau matin d’été si doux : Au détour d’un sentier une charogne […]

On the great walls of ancient cloisters were nailed Murals displaying Truth the saint, Whose effect, reheating the pious entrails […]

WHITE maiden with the russet hair, Whose garments, through their holes, declare That poverty is part of you, And beauty […]

THEY say to me, thy clear and crystal eyes: “Why dost thou love me so, strange lover mine?” Be sweet, […]

WHEN with closed eyes in autumn’s eves of gold I breathe the burning odours of your breast, Before my eyes […]

Reubens, river of forgetfulness, garden of sloth, Pillow of wet flesh that one cannot love, But where life throngs and […]