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EL DESDICHADO, by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: I am the dark inheritor of woe
Last Line: Of saints, with fairies in loud antiphon.
Alternate Author Name(s): Nerval, Gerard De
Subject(s): Courts & Courtiers; Grief; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Queens; Sorrow; Sadness


I AM the dark inheritor of woe,
The Prince of Aquitaine whose palace spire
Lies low in dust. My star is dead. The wire
Of my starr'd lute burns with an ebon glow.
Into the grave's night send Pausilippo,
Blue Latin seas; and let my soul respire
The flower that won my weary heart's desire,
The trellis where the rose and vine-leaf grow.

Am I Love or the Moon ...? Lusignan or Biron ...?
My brow's still rosy with the Queen's hot kiss;
I have swooned in sea-caves where the syren is ...
Twice have I overborne Hell's surge: I won
The lyre of Orpheus to sad melodies
Of saints, with fairies in loud antiphon.





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