Monthly Archives: September 2011

9,707 words

Translated by R. G. Fowler

“No longer gigantic, like unto the Spirits, proud and free,
But servile, crawling, crafty, cowardly, envious,
Frozen flesh where nothing stirs or trembles any more,
Man will swarm anew under the skies.”
—Leconte  de Lisle (“Cain,” Barbaric Poems)

“An impure air embraces the globe stripped
Of the woods that sheltered it in their sublime mantle;
The mountains, under vile feet, have lowered their summits;
The mysterious heart of the ocean is defiled.”
—Leconte de Lisle (“The Anathema,” Barbaric Poems) Read more …