Charles Baudelaire

“ The girls with hollow eyes, in soft delights.
⁠Caress the ripe fruits of their womanhood,
Lesbos, the land of warm and langorous nights.
Leave, leave old Plato's austere eye to frown;
⁠Pardon is thine for kisses' sweet excess.
Queen of the land of amiable renown.
⁠And for exhaustless subtleties of bliss.
Leave, leave old Plato's austere eye to frown.
Pardon is thine for the eternal pain
⁠That on the ambitious hearts for ever lies.
Whom far from us the radiant smile could gain,
⁠Seen dimly on the verge of other skies ”

“ To learn if kind and merciful the sea.
⁠And midst the sobs that make the rock resound,
Brings back some eve to pardoning Lesbos, free
⁠The worshipped corpse of Sappho, who made her bound
To learn if kind and merciful the sea!
Of her the man-like lover-poetess, [1]
⁠In her sad pallor more than Venus fair!
⁠The azure eye yields to that black eye, where
The cloudy circle tells of the distress
Of her the man-like lover-poetess!
Fairer than Venus risen on the world. ”