THE GRAPES OF WRATH

Translated by Lynn D. Gilbert from Charles Baudelaire

Hate is the vat of Danaus’ pale girls;
Revenge, distraught, arms muscular and red,
In vain into that empty darkness hurls
Great pailfuls of the blood and tears of the dead.

For stealthy Satan taps the vat’s deep base
From which ten centuries’ sweat and toil would run,
Though Revenge, to squeeze a new batch from her press,
Revived her victims’ bloodless carrion.

A drunkard in the back room of the bar,
Hatred with every drink feels greater drouth:
Each instant, Hydra-like, another mouth!

Lucky drinkers meet their match in the jar;
Poor Hatred never can, through his long bout,
Slither beneath the table and pass out.

The original poem in French, “Le Tonneau de la Haine,” appeared in Les Fleurs du mal.

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ABOUT THE CREATOrs

Headshot and bio from Encyclopedia Britannica

Lynn D. Gilbert's poems, twice nominated for Pushcart Prizes, have appeared in such journals as Appalachian Review, Arboreal, Blue Unicorn, Light, The MacGuffin, and Sheepshead Review. Her poetry volume has been a finalist in the Gerald Cable and Off the Grid Press book contests. A founding editor of Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, she lives in an Austin suburb and reviews poetry submissions for Third Wednesday journal.

Charles Baudelaire (born April 9, 1821, Paris, France—died August 31, 1867, Paris) was a French poet, translator, and literary and art critic whose reputation rests primarily on Les Fleurs du mal (1857; The Flowers of Evil), which was perhaps the most important and influential poetry collection published in Europe in the 19th century. Similarly, his Petits poèmes en prose (1868; Little Prose Poems) was the most successful and innovative early experiment in prose poetry of the time.

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