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Charles Baudelaire - Horreur sympathique (Sympathetic Horror)
Work rating: Low

De ce ciel bizarre et livide,
Tourmenté comme ton destin, 
Quels pensers dans ton âme vide
Descendent? réponds, libertin.

— Insatiablement avide
De l`obscur et de l`incertain,
Je ne geindrai pas comme Ovide
Chassé du paradis latin.

Cieux déchirés comme des grèves
En vous se mire mon orgueil;
Vos vastes nuages en deuil

Sont les corbillards de mes rêves,
Et vos lueurs sont le reflet
De l`Enfer où mon coeur se plaît.



Reflected Horror

From that sky, bizarre and livid, 
Distorted as your destiny, 
What thoughts into your empty soul 
Descend? Answer me, libertine.

— Insatiably avid 
For the dark and the uncertain, 
I shall not whimper like Ovid 
Chased from his Latin paradise.

Skies torn like the shores of the sea,
You are the mirror of my pride;
Your vast clouds in mourning

Are the black hearses of my dreams, 
And your gleams are the reflection 
Of the Hell which delights my heart.


— Translated by William Aggeler



Sympathetic Horror 

From livid skies that, without end, 
As stormy as your future roll, 
What thoughts into your empty soul 
(Answer me, libertine!) descend?

— Insatiable yet for all 
That turns on darkness, doom, or dice, 
I`ll not, like Ovid, mourn my fall, 
Chased from the Latin paradise.

Skies, torn like seacoasts by the storm!
In you I see my pride take form,
And the huge clouds that rush in streams

Are the black hearses of my dreams, 
And your red rays reflect the hell, 
In which my heart is pleased to dwell.


— Translated by Roy Campbell
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