Passion And The Skull
By Charles Baudelaire
An Old Colophon
Passion sits on the skull
Of Humanity,
And this infidel enthroned
Laughs shamelessly,
And gaily blows round bubbles
That will fly,
As if to join with worlds
Deep in the sky.
Rising on high, the frail
Luminous globe,
Shatters and bursts its slim soul
Like a dream of gold.
I hear at each bubble, the skull
Moan and contend:
'This vicious, ridiculous game,
When will it end?
What you are blowing away
Again and again,
You murderous fiend, is my body
My blood and my brain!'