Wisest of Angels, whom your fate betrays,
And, fairest of them all, deprives of praise,
...
O Prince of exiles, who have suffered wrong,
Yet, vanquished, rise from every fall more strong,
...
All-knowing lord of subterranean things,
Who remedy our human sufferings,
...
To lepers and lost beggars full of lice,
You teach, through love, the taste of Paradise.
...
You who on Death, your old and sturdy wife,
Engendered Hope — sweet folly of this life —
...
You give to the doomed man that calm, unbaffled
Gaze that rebukes the mob around the scaffold,
...
(THE FLOWERS OF EVIL, 1857)
2022.06.25. F.K.
2024.08.23. V.C.