Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HEAUTONTIMOROUMENOS, by CHARLES BAUDELAIRE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HEAUTONTIMOROUMENOS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I shall strike you without anger
Last Line: And who can never smile again.


I shall strike you without anger
And without hate, as a butcher strikes,
As Moses struck the rock!
And from your opened eye,

To water my Sahara,
Shall flow the waters of our suffering.
My desire, swelled with hopefulness,
Upon your salt tears shall swim

Like a vessel which moves to sea,
And in my heart drugged by them
Your dear sobs will sound
Like a drum beating the advance!

Am I not a dissonance
In the divine symphony
Thanks to the hungry Irony
Which shakes me and which tears me?

It is in my voice, screeching!
It is my very blood, black poison!
I am the hateful mirror
Where the Fury scans herself!

I am the wound and the knife!
I am the blow and the cheek!
I am the limbs and the wheel,
And condemned and executioner!

I am the vampire of my heart:
One of the lost forever,
Condemned to eternal laughter
And who can never smile again.





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