France

Often, to amuse themselves, the crewmen

Catch albatrosses, vast sea-birds,

Which follow, indolent companions of the voyage,

The ship gliding on the bitter gulfs.

Hardly have they put them on deck,

When these kings of the azure, clumsy and ashamed,

Pitifully let go their great white wings,

Like oars dragging alongside them.

This winged voyager, how awkward and weak he is!

He, once so beautiful, he's so funny and ugly!

One teases his beak with a pipestem,

Another mimes, limping, the cripple that once flew!

The Poet is like this prince of the clouds

Who haunts the tempest and laughs at the archer;

Exiled on the ground, in the midst of jeers,

His giant wings keep him from walking.

Baudelaire's L'albatross published in a book.