The Mind
Ill-Luck
Translated by Cyril Scott (1909) · From Les Fleurs du Mal (1857)
This heavy burden to uplift,
O Sysiphus, thy pluck is required!
And even though the heart aspired,
Art is long and Time is swift.
Afar from sepulchres renowned,
To a graveyard, quite apart,
Like a broken drum, my heart,
Beats the funeral marches' sound.
Many a buried jewel sleeps
In the long-forgotten deeps,
Far from mattock and from sound;
Many a flower wafts aloft
Its perfumes, like a secret soft,
Within the solitudes, profound.
Cite this poem
MLA
Baudelaire, Charles. “Ill-Luck.” Translated by Cyril Scott. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/baudelaire/6/.
Chicago
Baudelaire, Charles. “Ill-Luck.” Translated by Cyril Scott. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/baudelaire/6/.
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