Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MUSIC by CHARLES BAUDELAIRE

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: ON MUSIC DRAWN AWAY, A SEA-BORNE MARINER
Last Line: A GLASS FOR MY DESPAIR.

On music drawn away, a sea-borne mariner
Star over bowsprit pale,
Beneath a roof of mist or depths of lucid air
I put out under sail;

Breastbone my steady bow and lungs full, running free
Before a following gale,
I ride the rolling back and mass of every sea
By Night wrapt in her veil;

All passions and all joys that vessels undergo
Tremble alike in me;
Fair wind or waves in havoc when the tempests blow

On the enormous sea
Rock me, and level calms come silvering sea and air,
A glass for my despair.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net