Charles Baudelaire's The Albatross translated by R J Dent
Here’s Charles Baudelaire’s The Albatross.
The poem is from R J Dent’s translation of The Flowers of Evil, published by Solar Books.
The Flowers of Evil & Artificial Paradise by Charles Baudelaire translated by R J Dent
More details can be found here: http://www.solarbooks.org/solar-titles/flowersofevil.html
The Albatross has been set to music by the Finnish composer/musician Outi Tarkiainen.
The first performance was in Helsinki in September 2009.
Here’s the video clip:
Translation © R J Dent 2009/Music © Outi Tarkiainen 2009
And here are the lyrics:
The Albatross
Often, for amusement, the sailing crew
catch that bird of the seas – the albatross;
companion on our voyage, it follows
the ship as it slides through the sea’s abyss.
When this once-great sky king has been dumped,
awkward and ashamed, onto the ship’s boards,
it pitifully drags its great white wings
along its feathered sides like useless oars.
This graceful voyager through shades of blue,
once beautiful, is now clumsy and weak;
one sailor mocks the cripple who once flew,
another stubs a pipe out on its beak.
The poet is just like this prince of clouds;
beyond range, above storms – these are his haunts;
exiled on Earth amidst a jeering crowd,
his giant wings won’t permit him to walk.
Translation © R J Dent (2009)
