The Fountain of Blood
Charles Baudelaire 1821 (Paris) – 1867 (Paris)
A fountain's pulsing sobs--like this my blood
Measures its flowing, so it sometimes seems.
I hear a gentle murmur as it streams;
Where the wound lies I've never understood.
Like water meadows, boulevards are flooded.
Cobblestones, crisscrossed by scarlet rills,
Are islands; creatures come and drink their fill.
Nothing in nature now remains unblooded.
I used to hope that wine could bring me ease,
Could lull asleep my deeply gnawing mind.
I was a fool: the senses clear with wine.
I looked to Love to cure my old disease.
Love led me to a thicket of IVs
Where bristling needles thirsted for each vein.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 24, 2023
- 32 sec read
- 171 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBX ABXA CXX CBX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 598 |
Words | 106 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 3, 3 |
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"The Fountain of Blood" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/5019/the-fountain-of-blood>.
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