Baudelaire combined a rhythmical and musical perfection with a morbid romanticism and eroticism. In his most famous work he found beauty in decadence and evil, although the average reader will be surprised to discover a tendency to moralize in some of his other work.

LETHE

Come to my arms, cruel and sullen thing;

Indolent beast, come to my arms again,

For I would plunge my fingers in your mane

Ans be a long time unremembering -

And bury myself in you, and breathe your wild

perfume remorselessly for one more hour ;

And breathe again, as of a ruined flower,

The fragrance of the love you have defiled.

I long to sleep; I think that from a stark

Slumber like death I would awake the same

As I once was, and lavish without shame

Caresses upon your body, glowing and dark.

To drown my sorrow there is no abyss,

However deep, that can compare with your bed.

Forgetfulness has made its country your red

Mouth, and the flowing of Lethe is in your kiss.

My doom, henceforward, is my sole desire :

As martyrs, being demented in their zeal,

Shake with delightful spasms upon the wheel,

Implore the whip, or puff upon the fire,

So I implore you, fervently resigned !

Come; I would drink nepenthe and long rest

At the sweet points of this entrancing breast

Wherein no heart has ever been confined.

-George Dillon