Poemquotes 16 - "X. The Enemy" by Charles Baudelaire

my translation

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X. L'Ennemi - Les fleurs du mal
[X. The Enemy] [The Flowers of Evil]

My youth was but a gloomy storm,
Traversed here and there by shining suns;
The thunder and the rain made such a ravage
That there remains in my garden barely any ruby fruits.

Here then I touched the autumn of ideas,
And had to put to use the shovel and the rakes
To gather the flooded grounds anew,
Where the water digs holes large as tombs.

And who knows whether the new flowers I dream
Will find in this soil washed like a shore
The mystical food that would provide their vigor?

— O suffering! o suffering! Time eats life,
And the obscure Enemy that eats away at our heart
Grows and draws strength from the blood we shed!

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