Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE TOMB OF CHARLES BAUDELAIRE, by STEPHANE MALLARME



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE TOMB OF CHARLES BAUDELAIRE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Through its sepulchral sewer mouth, ozzing mud and rubies
Last Line: Always for us to breathe even if we perish from it.
Subject(s): Baudelaire, Charles (1821-1867); French Poetry - Symbolism; Poetry & Poets


Through its sepulchral sewer mouth, oozing mud and rubies,
The buried temple discloses
Abominably some Anubis idol
The whole snout in flames as if barking fiercely

Or let the modern gaslight twist the squinting wick
Enduring, one knows, the shames suffered,
It lights up, haggard, an immortal pubis
Whose image, as if in flight, dissolves according to the reflected gaslight

What dried-up foliage, votive, in the cities without evening
Will be able to consecrate like the shade which settles itself
Vainly against the marble slab of Baudelaire

In the veil which encircles it absent, quivering
This is his Ghost itself, a tutelary poison
Always for us to breathe even if we perish from it.





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