one man lights you with his ardor,
another puts you in mourning, nature!
that which says to one: sepulcher!
says to another: life! glory!
you have always frightened me,
hermes the unknown, you who help me.
you make me the peer of midas,
the saddest of all alchemists;
through you i change gold to iron
and make of paradise a hell;
in the winding sheet of the clouds
and on the celestial shores
i build massive sarcophagi.
- charles baudelaire, translated by william aggeler
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