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


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SOARING, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Above the plains, high over lake and pond
Last Line: Of flowers and all things dumb the silent speech.


ABOVE the plains, high over lake and pond,
Mountains and woods, and clouds and ocean's face,
Beyond the sun, beyond the ethereal space,
All confines of the starry spheres beyond,

My soul, with active wing you take your flight,
As some strong swimmer with the waves can play;
Through boundless realms you cleave your happy way
With manly and unspeakable delight.

Fly far--far off from earth's miasmic ills;
Go, purify yourself in upper air,
And drink, as of a heavenly wine and rare,
The fire which all the limpid spaces fills.

From all the annoys, and all the griefs and pains,
Whose weight to man's o'erclouded being clings,
Happy is he who can with vigorous wings
Escape to those calm, light-diffusing plains;

He whose high thoughts, like larks, are strong to reach
The morning sky, toward which they freely wend
And soar o'er life, and toil-less comprehend
Of flowers and all things dumb the silent speech.





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