WHERE’ER he be, on water or on land,
Under pale suns or climes that flames enfold;
One of Christ’s own, or of Cythera’s band,
Shadowy beggar or Cr?sus rich with gold;
Citizen, peasant, student, tramp; whate’er
His little brain may be, alive or dead;
Man knows the fear of mystery everywhere,
And peeps, with trembling glances, overhead.
The heaven above? A strangling cavern wall;
The lighted ceiling of a music-hall
Where every actor treads a bloody soil–
The hermit’s hope; the terror of the sot;
The sky: the black lid of the mighty pot
Where the vast human generations boil!
(Charles Baudelaire)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, Mind Poems, Heaven Poems, Christianity Poems, Hope Poems, Fear Poems, Gold Poems, Jesus Christ Poems, Water Poems, Brain Poems, Mystery PoemsBased on Keywords: rich, alive, bloody, shadowy, mighty, beggar, everywhere, band, vast, suns, trembling