The Flowers of Evil (Classic Reprint)

Benediction When by the changeless Power of a Supreme Decree The poet issues forth upon this sorry sphere, His mother, horrified, and full of blasphemy, Uplifts her voice to God, who takes compassion on her. " Ah, why did I not bear a serpent's nest entire, Instead of bringing forth this hideous Child of Doom ! Oh cursed be that transient night of vain desire When I conceived my expiation in my womb ! * " Yet since among all women thou hast chosen me To be the degradation of my jaded mate, And since I cannot like a love-leaf wantonly Consign this stunted monster to the glowing grate," " I'll cause thine overwhelming hatred to rebound Upon the cursed tool of thy most wicked spite. Forsooth, the branches of this wretched tree I'll wound And rob its pestilential blossoms of their might!" So thus, she giveth vent unto her foaming ire, And knowing not the changeless statutes of all times, Herself, amid the flames of hell, prepares the pyre; The consecrated penance of maternal c

Table of Contents

CONTENTS; Benediction ; Echoes ••• •••; The Sick Muse; The Venal Muse; The Evil Monk; The Enemy ; Ill-Luck; Interior Life; Man and the Sea; Beauty; The Ideal; The Giantess ; Hymn to Beauty; Exotic Perfume; La Chevelure ; Sonnet XXVIII; Posthumous Remorse; The Balcony ; The Possessed One; Semper Eadem ; All Entire; Sonnet XLIII ; The Living Torch The Spiritual Dawn; Evening Harmony 33; Overcast Sky 34; Invitation to a Journey • 35; "Causeiie" 37; Autumn Song ?•• 3^; Sisina 39; To a Creolean Lady 4°; Moesta et Errabunda 41; The Ghost 43; Autumn Song 44; Sadness of the Moon-Goddess 45; Cats 46; Owls ••• 47; Music ••• 48; The Joyous Defunct 49; The Broken Bell 5°; Spleen 51; Obsession 5 2; Magnetic Horror 53; The Lid 54; Bertha's Eyes 55; The Set of the Romantic Sun 56; Meditation ••? ••• 57; To a Passer-by 5&; Illusionary Love 59; Mists and Rains 60; The Wine of Lovers 61; Condemned Women 62; The Death of the