The Albatross

Often, to amuse themselves, the men of the crew Catch the great albatross, those mariners of the seas, Who follow, lazy companions, the vessel in flight, Now, if these birds are royal, they are clumsy and weak!

The sailors, in their hands, pierce their flabby wings, A creature, lost and miserable on the shore, This giant wretch, just like some winged god, Is mocked and ridiculed by the sudden jibes.

The one who vanishes in adventure’s stroke, This celestial being now dragged near, a joke, He used to be so grand, so bold upon the wing, Becomes a degraded squawking, intolerable thing.

• Charles Baudelaire