The Flowers of Evil
Charles Baudelaire
Quotations reprinted without permission from the New Directions edition
(edited by Marthel and Jackson Mathews)
I know the passionate lover of fine style exposes himself to the hatred of
the masses; but no respect for humanity, no false modesty, no conspiracy,
no universal suffrage will ever force me to speak the unspeakable jargon of
the age, or to confuse ink with virtue.
Certain illustrious poets have long since divided among themselves the more
flowery provinces of the realm of poetry. I have found it amusing, and the
more pleasant because the task was more difficult, to extract beauty
from Evil . This book, which is quintessentially useless and
absolutely innocent, was written with no other aim than to divert myself
and to practise my passionate taste for the difficult.
Your noble thighs, beneath the silks they swirl,
Torment obscure desires and tease me, girl;
Like sorcerers they are
That stir black philtres in a deep, cool jar.
(from The Splendid Ship)
Over my swooning breast your fingers stray;
In vain, alas ! My breast is a void pit
Sacked by the tooth and claw of women. Nay,
Seek not my heart; the beasts have eaten it !
(from Conversation)
Like an exhausted rake who mouths and chews
The martyrized breast of an old withered whore
We steal, in passing, whatever joys we can,
Squeezing the driest orange all the more.
(from To the Reader)