Sepulchre
Charles Baudelaire
A sepulchre should be a haven – a secure harbour, not a ruin prowled by wolves. A sepulchre ought to be a quiet place to lay a beloved's corpse, hoping the soul will find repose.
Or could it be a chamber or a chest, a receptacle in which to conceal or venerate some esoteric relic or arcane text. Perhaps an image. Perhaps a set of images. Perhaps a secret concealed within a set of images.
The sepulchre imagined by Charles Baudelaire – his Sépulture – brought no relief to the departed. In Baudelaire's mid-19th century vision, the passer-by, inspired by charity, interred the infamous corpse in hell.
This unrhymed translation is by my husband, Greg Mosse. Click this link for the original French.
