The Flowers of Evil ~ Love and a Skull

Love sits on the cranium
Of Humanity,
And on this throne the profane one
Laughs shamelessly,

Gossamer bubbles gaily pearled
It blows in the air,
They rise as if rejoining worlds
Beneath the ether.

The globe luminous and frail
Ascends in a soar,
Splits and spits its slender soul
Like a golden snore.

I hear the skull with each burst pray,
Beseech and lament:
—"This fierce and ridiculous play
When will it end?

You scatter with your cruel tongue
To infinity
My brain, monster assassin,
My blood and body!"

~ Charles Baudelaire