Spleen – Charles Baudelaire
Spleen
Spleen
License: Public Domain
Cyril Scott
The rainy moon of all the world is weary,
And from its urn a gloomy cold pours down,
Upon the pallid inmates of the mortuary,
And on the neighbouring outskirts of the town.
My wasted cat, in searching for a litter,
Bestirs its mangy paws from post to post;
(A poet’s soul that wanders in the gutter,
With the jaded voice of a shiv’ring ghost).
The smoking pine-log, while the drone laments,
Accompanies the wheezy pendulum,
The while amidst a haze of dirty scents,
—Those fatal remnants of a sick man’s room—
The gallant knave of hearts and queen of spades
Relate their ancient amorous escapades.