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Complaint of an Icarus
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| The Flowers of Evil ~ Complaint of an Icarus written by Charles Baudelaire translated by Roy Campbell |
| Les Plaintes d’un Icare. From Poems of Baudelaire (New York: Pantheon Books, 1952), as presented at http://fleursdumal.org | Link to further information |
Those who love whores are well-endowed,
Spry, and well-fed, and cheerful-spoken.
But, as for me, my arms are broken
From trying to embrace a cloud.
To what two peerless stars have done
That kindle in the farthest skies,
I owe it that my burnt-out eyes
Know only memories of the sun.
In vain I've tried to find the pole
And the equator-line of space.
I know not by what burning gaze
The wings were molten from my soul.
By love of beauty singed, I fall
Yet fail the honour and the bliss
To give my name to the abyss
Which serves me for my tomb and pall.
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Works by this author are in the public domain in countries where the copyright term is the author's life plus 68 years or less. cs | de | en | eo | es | fr | he | pl | ru | zh |