Sorrows of the Moon

Charles Baudelaire 1821 (Paris) – 1867 (Paris)



Tonight the moon dreams in a deeper languidness,
And, like a beauty on her cushions, lies at rest;
While drifting off to sleep, a tentative caress
Seeks, with a gentle hand, the contour of her breast;

As on a crest above her silken avalanche,
Dying, she yields herself to an unending swoon,
And sees a pallid vision everywhere she’d glance,
In the azure sky where blossoms have been strewn.

When sometime, in her weariness, upon her sphere
She might permit herself to sheda furtive tear,
A poet of great piety, a foe of sleep,

Catches in the hollow of his hand that tear,
An opal fragment, iridescent as a star;
Within his heart, far from the sun, it’s buried deep.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

36 sec read
171

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB XCAC XDE DXE
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 664
Words 122
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 3, 3

Charles Baudelaire

Charles Pierre Baudelaire was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. more…

All Charles Baudelaire poems | Charles Baudelaire Books

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