Metamorphosis of the Vampire

Meanwhile, from her red mouth the woman, in husky tones,

Twisting her body like a serpent upon hot stones

And straining her white breasts from their imprisonment,

Let fall these words, as potent as a heavy scent:

"My lips are moist and yielding, and I know the way

To keep the antique demon of remorse at bay.

All sorrows die upon my bosom. I can make

Old men laugh happily as children for my sake.

For him who sees me naked in my tresses,

I Replace the sun, the moon, and all the stars of the sky!

Believe me, learned sir, I am so deeply skilled

That when I wind a lover in my soft arms, and yield

My breasts like two ripe fruits for his devouring-both

Shy and voluptuous, insatiable and loath-

Upon his bed that groans and sighs luxuriously

Even the impotent angels would be damned for me!"

When she drained me of my very marrow, and cold

And weak, I turned to give her one more kiss-behold,

There at my side was nothing but a hideous

Putrescent thing, all faceless and exuding pus.

I closed my eyes and mercifully swooned till day:

Who seemed to have replenished her arteries from my own,

The wan, disjointed fragments of a skeleton

Wagged up and down in a new posture where she had lain;

Rattling with each convulsion like a weathervane

Or an old sign that creaks upon its bracket, right

Mournfully in the wind upon a winter's night.

~~~ Charles Baudelaire, 1857