Best Baudelaire Poems

for Charles Baudelaire

(Paul Verlaine’s sonnet : « A Charles Baudelaire », translated by T. Wignesan.
I thought I’ll first present to readers – they should see why - an unrimed version, and maybe later the strict sonnet form.)

I didn’t know you, I didn’t love you,
I know...

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Les Bijoux (The Jewels)
by Charles Baudelaire
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

My lover nude and knowing my heart's whims
Wore nothing more than a few bright-flashing gems;
Her art was saving men despite their sins;
She ruled like harem girls crowned with diadems!

She danced for me with a gay...

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Le Balcon (The Balcony)
Charles Baudelaire
trans. Michael R. Burch

Paramour of memory, ultimate mistress,
source of all pleasure, my only desire;
how can I forget your ecstatic caresses,
the warmth of your breasts by the roaring fire,
paramour of memory, ultimate mistress?

Each night illumined by the burning coals
we lay together where...

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His start was art
That fell apart

  To poetry he turned
  'Normalcy' ~ spurned



____________________________________________________  
Reviews:
  "Stunning in its simplicity, Gershon."
       ~ Simple Simon, the Pie-man

  "Precisely! You drive the nail straight through this fop's noggin!"
...

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This is my English translation of "L'Invitation au voyage" ("Invitation to the Voyage") by the French poet Charles Baudelaire. It's a poem he wrote for his soulmate...

Invitation to the Voyage
by Charles Baudelaire
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

My child, my sister,
Consider the rapture
Of living together!
To love...

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Huntress
by Michael R. Burch

after Baudelaire

Lynx-eyed, cat-like and cruel, you creep
across a crevice dropping deep
into a dark and doomed domain.
Your claws are sheathed. You smile, insane.
Rain falls upon your path, and pain
pours down. Your paws are pierced. You pause
and heed the oft-lamented laws
which bid you not...

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Duellem (The Duel)
by Charles Baudelaire
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Two combatants charged! Their fearsome swords
brightened the air with fiery sparks and blood.
Their clashing blades clinked odd serenades,
reminding us: youth's inspired by overloud love.
But now their blades lie broken, like our hearts!
Still, our savage teeth and...

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The French poet&critic Baudelaire
made many a quote sans a care
Genius, being chi!dhood retrieved, at will 
a childhood.. equipped with adult skill...

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The 
mind's eye*
elusive
spontaneous
its
beauty
so sad it seems-
this art nouveau
dream...

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A dusk, a glazed verandah, it's just rained,
a smell of lilac, earthworms and wet earth,
an awkward silence - the confusion chained
my tongue: “What if she’ll laugh at? Is it worth?”
A glass of wine casts the vermilion shade
over a tablecloth, a rocking chair
sways quietly, its oscillations...

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