Flowers of Evil

<h3><SPAN name="The_Balcony" id="The_Balcony"></SPAN>The Balcony</h3> <p class="margin-b"> Oh, Mother of Memories! Mistress of Mistresses!<br/> Oh, thou all my pleasures, oh, thou all my prayers!<br/> Can'st thou remember those luscious caresses,<br/> The charm of the hearth and the sweet evening airs?<br/> Oh, Mother, of Memories, Mistress of Mistresses!<br/> <br/> Those evenings illumed by the glow of the coal,<br/> And those roseate nights with their vaporous wings,<br/> How calm was thy breast and how good was thy soul,<br/> 'Twas then we uttered imperishable things,<br/> Those evenings illumed by the glow of the coal.<br/> <br/> How lovely the suns on those hot, autumn nights!<br/> How vast were the heavens! and the heart how hale!<br/> As I leaned towards you&mdash;oh, my Queen of Delights,<br/> The scent of thy blood I seemed to inhale.<br/> How lovely the sun on those hot, autumn nights!<br/> <br/> The shadows of night-time grew dense like a pall,<br/> And deep through the darkness thine eyes I divined,<br/> And I drank of thy breath&mdash;oh sweetness, oh gall,<br/> And thy feet in my brotherly hands reclined,<br/> The shadows of Night-time grew dense like a pall.<br/> <br/> I know how to call forth those moments so dear,<br/> And to live my Past&mdash;laid on thy knees&mdash;once more,<br/> For where should I seek for thy beauties but here<br/> In thy langorous heart and thy body so pure?<br/> I know how to call forth those moments so dear.<br/> <br/> Those perfumes, those infinite kisses and sighs,<br/> Are they born in some gulf to our plummets denied?<br/> Like rejuvenate suns that mount up to the skies,<br/> That first have been cleansed in the depths of the tide;<br/> Oh, perfumes! oh, infinite kisses and sighs!<br/></p> <hr style="width: 35%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />