Condemned Women (Delphine and Hippolyta)

In the pale glow of soft expiring lamps, Hippolyta, on cushions steeped in scent, lay dreaming of the potent first caress that stripped the veil from her young innocence;

And with a clouded look she sought the clear lost heaven of her old simplicity, like some late traveller glancing back towards the blue horizons of a morning sky.

Her idle tears falling from weary eyes, dazed broken air and sensual distress, limp arms - abandoned arms indeed - all this served and enhanced her fragile loveliness.

Stretched at her feet, joyful and calm at last, Delphine, with burning eyes, absorbed the sight, like a strong animal brooding on the prey that it has marked and mastered with a bite.

…..

Charles Baudelaire

Tr. Anthony Mortimer