The Albatross

Often, to amuse themselves, the sailors Catch an Albatross, huge sea-bird That follows, lazy companions of their voyage, The ship gliding over the bitter waters.

Hardly have they put it on the deck, That the poor beast, in shame, flaps its great wings, Like oars, with a pitiful look, That a majesty can also be made folly.

The sailor, seated on the prows, with great anguish, Mocks the feeble creature, that has just forgotten Among the clouds, with or without its strength, And often, it finds it difficult to walk.

Its wings are often so large and so beautiful But dragged in the dust; they cannot lift The body that is peculiar; it is a distress, Ambition that cannot take flight, a being that cannot fly.

• Charles Baudelaire