Ill Fortune

Poem by Charles Baudelaire Collection The Flowers of EvilThemes ArtPeriod 19th century

To lift a weight so heavy,
Sisyphus, your courage would be needed!
Though one may have heart for the task,
Art is long and Time is short.

Far from famous sepulchers,
Toward an isolated cemetery,
My heart, like a muffled drum,
Goes beating out funeral marches.

– Many a jewel sleeps buried
In darkness and oblivion,
Far from pickaxes and probes;

Many a flower pours out regretfully
Its fragrance sweet as a secret
In the deep solitudes.

Charles Baudelaire

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