To the Memory of Charles Baudelaire...

I am a little tired of all things mortal; I see through half-shut eyelids languorous The old monotonous Gold sun set slowly through the western portal, Where I recline upon my deep dîwân, In Ispahân. ...

In thy blue pallid gown that shimmereth So pale thou standest in the wan moonlight, Where the gold censer near thy body white Wraps thee around with its perfumed breath; So wan thy high tiara glimmere...

In thy blue pallid gown that shimmereth So pale thou standest in the wan moonlight, Where the gold censer near thy body white Wraps thee around with its perfumed breath; So wan thy high tiara glimmere...

It is not that thy face is fair As dying sunsets are, Nor that thy lovely eyelids wear The splendour of a star; ’Tis the deep sadness of thine eyes Hath my heart captive led, And that within thy soul ...

Naught is more sweet than gently to let dream The pallid flower of life asleep alway; Where the dim censer sends up far from day Unceasingly its still-ascending stream, O where the air winds its myrrh...

I love all sombre and autumnal things, Regal and mournful and funereal, Things strange and curious and majestical, Whereto a solemn savor of death clings: Coerulian serpents mark’d with azure rings; A...

Although thy face be whiter than the dawn, Fairer than aught the dawning hath descried, Hast thou not now, O dear love deified, Enough of kisses upon thy forehead wan? The days and nights, like beads ...

I sat in tall Gomorrah on a day, Boring myself with solitude and dreams, When, like strange priests, with sacerdotal tread, The seven mortal sins, in rich array, Came in and knelt: one old, and weak, ...

All the authors that there are bore Me; All the philosophies bore Me; All the statues and all the temples bore Me; —All the authors that there are bore Thee; All the philosophies bore Thee; All the st...

Tired Muse, put faded roses on thy brow, Put thy bare arms about the harp, and sing: —I am a little bor’d with everything. Past the clos’d jalousies the mlengkas go; They are not beautiful; no Greek t...

They come and go, they pass before my soul, Desire and Love, weak Anguish and Distress, Shame and Despair: in phantom crowds they press, Life’s poor processional, Time’s lowly dole. Mournful their voi...

Quelle bêtise! O Muse, no longer lappt in sadness let us lie, Bring the jars of old Falernum, bring the roses ere they die! I love laughter, I love kisses, I love Lili, I love love, But these dingy fu...

Your soul is like a purple flower, Mary, whose eyes are amethyst, Whose lips are like red wine when kist, With sweet life and sweet death for dower; There are who will have none of these, Who walk in ...

—O Muse of mine that sittest orientally With a green emerald snake about the waist of thee, With henna-tinted feet, and almond eyes that dream, Put down the opium-pipe of jade and ivory, For she that ...

—Why sittest thou, O Muse, in grief enfolden? —Thou hast me promis’d jewels rich and rare To wear within my hair; And for my slaves the kings of kingdoms olden; And to abide in lofty castles golden, B...

When I contemplate how my state is low, And how my pride that had the earth for throne In this dark city sitteth all alone, My heart is fain for death to end its woe; Then when I think how all the gre...

Be not cast down my heart, and be not sad, That thou like common men must sorrow know; Not only they that live and die below, But ev’n the gods thy supreme sorrow had; Not unto Tammuz was this fortune...

As shadows pass, in the misty night, Over the wan and moonlit grass, So passeth our glory out of sight, As shadows pass. A little darkness, a little light, Sorrow and gladness, a weary mass, Glimmer a...

Weep, far autumnal skies, Shrouded in misty air; Weep, for thy solemn dearth, And for thy chill despair, Earth. O stricken forest-trees, Dead leaves that falter down Solemnly to your sleep, Golden, an...

The lady rode ’neath the strange sky’s pall Through the leafy woods funereal, And all the length of her moonlit way Was wanly white as the light of day; Solemnly rob’d she rode along, Unmindful of the...

When Death shall touch thy body beautiful, And thou that art of all the earth most fair Shalt close thine eyes upon the shining air, An unadorned gold urn to make full; When that thou liest quietly in...

Anguish and Mourning are as gold to her; She weareth Pain upon her as a gem, And on her head Grief like a diadem; And as with frankincense and tropic myrrh Her face is fragrant made with utter Woe; An...

O poppy-buds, that in the golden air Wave heavy hanging censers of delight, Give me an anodyne for my despair; O crimson poppy-blooms, O golden blight, O careless drunken heavy poppy-flowers, Make tha...

Among all sorrows that my heart hath known, Among all sorrows that my spirit keep Forever buried ’neath their mountains steep, Standeth one consolation, one alone. I know that earth shall be for death...

Thy splendour-lighted face before mine eyes Shines like a flaming sunset evermore; Thee only I behold on the earth’s floor, Thee only I behold within the skies; Thy coming on is like a conqueror, Befo...

Thy splendour-lighted face before mine eyes Shines like a flaming sunset evermore; Thee only I behold on the earth’s floor, Thee only I behold within the skies; Thy coming on is like a conqueror, Befo...

Lo, now my life is gone unto eclipse Upon thy perilous bosom; lo, I die, Faint with the utter whole of exstasy, With unassuaged lips against thy lips, That can give no more joy; lo, at the place Of ut...

Lo, all the passionate pale evening I lay between the breasts of my beloved, Among the lilies, in the lily garden. The sky was pale, and all the sunset faded, And all the stars I saw not in the heaven...

O starry light of the dim universe! The night adoreth thee, the planets high That reign far off within the desert sky Praise thee as with the sound of dulcimers, And all the temples of the night rehea...

The lady awoke before the cold gray dawn, And had no joy thereof; —What joy is mine of all the joy of love, When love is gone? Lo, all the air is strange unto mine eyes, Lo, all the stars are dead; On...

Remember, ye whom the skies delight, Whose faces flame with the falling sun, That after sunset cometh the night, That sorrow followeth all delight, When love, and lover, and lov’d are one. O ye whose ...

She hath liv’d the life of a rose, She that was fair, Blown on by the summer air, Grown tall in a golden close. An ending is set to delight; Now thou art as grass, As the leaves, as the blossoms that ...

Cometh a day and a night, When the lamps of life burn dim, When peace is secur’d for delight, And poppies for the red-rose flower; When the lamps of life burn dim, Cometh a day and a night, A day and ...

Surely thy face, love, is a little pale, And somewhat wan thy lips that were so red, And though my kisses might raise up the dead, To waken thy deep sleep they naught avail. Before thy stillness some ...

White-rose perfume Go with thee on thy way Unto thy shaded tomb; Low music fall Lightly as autumn leaves About thy solemn pall; Faint incense rise From many a censer swung Above thy closed eyes; And t...

The moon shone full that night, And fill’d with misty light The solemn clouds hung white Above her pall; Waiting the golden dawn The silent woods stood wan, While through their aisles mov’d on Her fun...

Now that the earth thy buried corpse doth hold, Now that thy soul that hath so much desired, Is gone down to the places of the tired, Far from the dawning and the star-light cold; Thine eyes shall not...

Lo, how the moon, beloved, Far in the heavens gleaming, Over the ocean dreaming Her pallid light doth throw; Lo, where the endless ocean, Where softly the night wind bloweth, Into the darkness floweth...

Lo, in the night I cry out, in the night, God! and my voice shall howl into the sky! I am weary of seeing shapeless things that fly, And flap into my face in their vile flight; I am weary of dead thin...

Lo, in the night I cry out, in the night, God! and my voice shall howl into the sky! I am weary of seeing shapeless things that fly, And flap into my face in their vile flight; I am weary of dead thin...

Far in the melancholy hills it stands, Far off; and through the vista of the years, Down which my soul its helpless journey steers, It flames a fire to lighten all the lands, A fire that burns me and ...

Out of the grave, O God, I call to thee, Be thou not deaf unto my dolorous cry; My soul is fallen down into the sty, And the dead things are crawling over me; O thou my God, give me the worm to flee, ...

Holy Pestilence, holy Pestilence, gird thee with might, Holy Pestilence, come thou upon them, come thou at night, Holy Pestilence, put on thy mantle, put on thy crown, Holy Pestilence, come on the cit...

Thou shalt rejoice for woe: The pallid goblet old, That holds thy life’s dull wine, Is made thereby divine; Stain’d with a purpler glow, And wrought in stranger gold. From the suck’d lees of pain, We ...

Thou shalt rejoice for woe: The pallid goblet old, That holds thy life’s dull wine, Is made thereby divine; Stain’d with a purpler glow, And wrought in stranger gold....

From the suck’d lees of pain, We have won joy again: Death shall thee not distress: That sleepy bitterness To thy kist lips shall be The supreme exstasy....

Put ashes on your golden body bare, Puissant as musk, bitter-sweet as to die, Ashes upon your arms that grow not old, And on your unassuaged lips of gold: So we will wanton in love’s sepulchre, And mo...

I love you more than Death: your mournful head, Your shrouding hair, and your unfathom’d eyes, And your white body beautiful, alas, Priestess and victim in love’s holy mass⁠ ⁠… Your flesh that loves, ...

Death is death; the little host that squirms, The smell, the dark, the coffin clos’d, and I So soft, so soft; no movement, and no breath; No ears, no nose, no eyeballs; Death is Death; The sepulchre, ...

Not for your evil is my spirit sad⁠— I mourn because you are not really bad; Because your beauty’s perfect cruelty Is ever marr’d with pity and distress, And you still show within your wickedness The ...

I am as one that thirsteth for all things, As one that holdeth to his lips the cup, With lower’d eyes searching the wine’s dull flame. No thing may I refuse among all things, Till, having drain’d unto...

Heart, we have wholly drain’d the cup of sadness, And found in sadness no reality; Now from the night of sadness let us go. Henceforward let us drain the cup of gladness, And find in gladness no reali...

Adorned daggers, ruby-hilted swords; Huge mortal serpents in gold volumes roll’d; All-holy poisons in wrought cups of gold; Unfailing crucifixes of strong cords; Mortal baptismal waters without fords,...

It is not that I have not sought thy face Ceaselessly through the world’s eternal lie, More than all things and throughout every place, Which having seen I were content to die. But I have sought thee ...

Because my hope is dead, my heart a stone, I read the words that Hegel once did write⁠— An idiot gibbering in the dark alone⁠— Till on my heart and vision fell the night....

A dead corpse full of wormy questionings, Beneath the open sky my soul lies dead, Shameless and rotten and unburied, For whom eternity no difference brings. Only the wind my loathed incense flings Afa...

My heart is but a tomb, where vain and cold My dead hopes lie: encoffin’d there my Pride Lies dead, and my Life’s Gladness crucified, And there my Morning Joy long turn’d to mould; And there like once...

In the last hopeless depth of hell’s dark tomb Wherein I sit for aye with bowed head In anguish and great sorrow buried Where never sun the blackness doth illume, I saw pass by me through the bitter g...

Dead am I, and ye triumph o’er me dead, Ye that within mine eyes have found your home, Ye that are soft and blind and white like foam, Ye that have made of me your meat and bread. Unto the worms I am ...

The loathed worms are crawling over me All the dead hours; about my buried head Their soft intolerable mouths are gathered, And in my dead eyes that have ceas’d to see. I am full of worms and rotten u...

Thou art at last made perfect; from the estate Of mushy life Death hath thee petrified. The soft the flowing and the putrified That made thee up, is by that artist great Now crystalliz’d unto a change...

Lo, all the world as some vast corpse long dead, Fadeth and perisheth and doth decay, Even as a corpse, in whose unhonor’d clay The worms have long the inmost secrets read; Even as a corpse, upon whos...

A dead corpse crowned with a crown of gold Sits thron’d beneath the sky’s gigantic pall; Gold garments from its rotted shoulders fall, And regal purple robes funereal. Before its face a vast processio...

They do not know that they are wholly dead, Nor that their bodies are to the worm given o’er; They pass beneath the sky forevermore; With their dead flesh the earth is cumbered. Each day they drink of...

O endless idiocy of humankind! O blatant dead that howl and scream and roar! O strange dead things the worms have gambled for! O dull and senseless, foolish, mad and blind! How long now shall your sce...

I saw a dead corpse lying in a tomb, Long buried and rotten to the core; Behold this corpse shall know not evermore Aught that may be outside its wormy room; It lies uncover’d in the pesty gloom, Eyel...

I saw a dead corpse lying in a tomb, Long buried and rotten to the core; Behold this corpse shall know not evermore Aught that may be outside its wormy room; It lies uncover’d in the pesty gloom, Eyel...

I saw a dead corpse in a haughty car, Whom in a high tomb phantom horses bore, Aye to and fro upon the scatter’d floor; His dead eyes star’d as though they look’d afar, His gold wheels myriad perish’d...

I saw a dead corpse making a strange cry, With dead feet planted on a high tomb’s floor; The dead stand round, with faces that implore; His dead hands bless them, stretched forth on high. —And art tho...

I saw a dead corpse lying on the floor Of a tomb; worms were in its woman’s head, Its black flesh lay about it shred on shred, And the dead things slept in its bosom hoar. And evermore inside that loa...

1st Corpse: I would now that the sweet light of the sun Might once again shine down upon my face; So weary am I of my rottenness. 2nd Corpse: Rejoice that now at least thou art done with life; This th...

And since I understood not what so strong Driveth all these at such exstatic pace, I too went down and joined in the throng; And many sitting in a lowly place I saw, where sense and vision darkness cl...

And since I understood not what so strong Driveth all these at such exstatic pace, I too went down and joined in the throng; And many sitting in a lowly place I saw, where sense and vision darkness cl...

Then since no one could answer unto me The question, and since no one could me tell The wherefore of this endless Vanity Of all the spirits that on earth did dwell, I said⁠—I go unto the Absolute; He ...

Then from the world I turn’d my steps afar; I came there where the holy Trinity And all the blessed saints in glory are, And did the beatific vision see, And how those happy are that once did mourn; B...

Now I am come to the nadir at last, to the absolute sorrow, Now all the stars are gone out of my sky; Night everlasting is mine without hope or desire of the morrow, All my life’s hopes are gone tombw...

Now at the last, Zulaikha, all my sorrows olden Are farther off than Europe or than China seem, And like an idle dream The North is faded far off in the distance golden; And here with thee I sit in pe...

Now at the last, Zulaikha, all my sorrows olden Are farther off than Europe or than China seem, And like an idle dream The North is faded far off in the distance golden; And here with thee I sit in pe...

These paltry rhymes, which loftier shall pursue Than aught America of high or great Hath seen since first began her world-wide state, I dedicate, my brother, unto you....

I leave the sound, the sorrow, and the strife; Long long ago I lived within the hopeless world of life; Now on my heart forever stilled from strife Slow falls the snow. My heart is still at last, mine...

The poem “After-Life” was published in Overland Monthly, vol. 37, no. 1, and was not included in the original publication of The Book of Jade. —S.E. Editor ↩...