Translation: The Vampire (Baudelaire)
by evie-brill-paffard
You tore my heart like a dagger’s thrust
When before you it was laid
You, a parasite fuelled by lust
Like drunk demonic parade
You’ve tarred a mind that once was sound
To make it your bed and your domain
Degenerate to whom I'm bound
Like a convict to a chain
Like a gambling man to fortune’s wheel
Like the lush to a bottle of gin,
Like the maggots to their grisly meal,
Damn you, you rot from within!
Give to me a swift, sharp death
For to set my weak soul free,
Give me poison to taint my breath
For to take my fear from me
Alas! both the poison and the blade
Contemptuously said to me:
"You will not be freed or slayed
From your accursed slavery
You fool! — if from that deadly trance
Of which your release you desire
Your kisses would necromance
The cadaver of your vampire!"