Flowers of Evil

<h3><SPAN name="Moesta_et_Errabunda" id="Moesta_et_Errabunda"></SPAN>Moesta et Errabunda</h3> <p class="margin-b"> Oh, Agatha, tell! does thy heart not at times fly away?<br/> Far from the city impure and the lowering sea,<br/> To another ocean that blinds with its dazzling array,<br/> So blue and so clear and profound, like virginity?<br/> Oh, Agatha, tell! does thy heart not at times fly away?<br/> <br/> The sea, the vast ocean our travail and trouble consoles!<br/> What demon hath gifted the sea with a voice from on high,<br/> To sing us (attuned to an Æolus-organ that rolls<br/> Forth a grumbling burden) a lenitive lullabye?<br/> The sea, the vast ocean our travail and trouble consoles!<br/> <br/> Oh, carry me, waggons, oh, sailing-ships, help me depart!<br/> Far, far, here the dust is quite wet with our showering tears,<br/> Oh, say! it is true that Agatha's desolate heart,<br/> Proclaimeth, "Away from remorse, and from crimes, and from cares,"<br/> Oh, carry me, waggons, oh, sailing ships, help me depart!<br/> <br/> How distant you seem to be, perfumed Elysian fields!<br/> Wherein there is nothing but sunshine and love and glee;<br/> Where all that one loves is so worthy, and lovingly yields,<br/> And our hearts float about in the purest of ecstasy,<br/> How distant you seem to be, perfumed Elysian fields!<br/> <br/> But the green paradise of those transient infantile loves,<br/> The strolls, and the songs, and the kisses, and bunches of flowers,<br/> The viols vibrating beyond, in the mountainous groves,<br/> With the chalice of wine and the evening, entwined, in the bowers,<br/> But the green paradise of those transient infantile loves.<br/> <br/> That innocent heaven o'erflowing with furtive delight,<br/> Than China or India, is it still further away?<br/> Or, could one with pityful prayers bring it back to our sight?<br/> Or yet with a silvery voice o'er the ages convey<br/> That innocent heaven o'erflowing with furtive delight!<br/></p> <hr style="width: 35%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />