C'est la Mort qui [console et la Mort]1 qui fait vivre ;
C'est le but de la vie, et c'est le seul espoir
Qui, [divin]2 élixir, nous monte et nous enivre,
Et nous donne le cœur de marcher jusqu'au soir ;

À travers la tempête, et la neige et le givre,
C'est la clarté vibrante à notre horizon noir ;
C'est l'auberge fameuse inscrite sur le livre,
Où l'on pourra manger, et dormir, et s'asseoir 

C'est un Ange qui tient dans ses doigts magnétiques
Le sommeil et le don des rêves extatiques,
Et qui refait le lit des gens pauvres et nus ;

C'est la gloire des Dieux, c'est le grenier mystique,
C'est la bourse du pauvre et sa patrie antique,
C'est le portique ouvert sur les Cieux inconnus !

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Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1857, in La Mort, pages 245-246. Also confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861, in La Mort, pages 297-298. Also confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Œuvres complètes de Charles Baudelaire, vol. I : Les Fleurs du mal, Paris: Michel Lévy frères, 1868, in La Mort, page 340. Punctuation follows 1857 edition. Note: this was number 99 in 1857 edition of Les Fleurs du mal but number 122 or 147 in subsequent editions.

¹ 1861 edition, 1868 edition, G. Bachlund, A. Caplet, Hirschberg, and E. Rautavaara: "console, hélas ! et"
² 1861 edition, 1868 edition, G. Bachlund, A. Caplet, and E. Rautavaara: "comme un"

Text Authorship:

• by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "La mort des pauvres", appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 6. La Mort, no. 122, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857 [author's text checked 4 times against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "La mort des pauvres", 1990 [ medium voice and piano ], from La Mort, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Stéphane Blet (b. 1969), "La mort", op. 100 no. 2 (2004?), published 2004 [ medium voice and piano ], from 4 Mélodies d’après “Les Fleurs du mal” de Baudelaire opus 100, no. 2, Éd. Combre [sung text not yet checked]
• by André Caplet (1879 - 1925), "La mort des pauvres", 1922, first performed 1923 [ medium voice and piano ], from Deux Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire, no. 2, Paris, Éd. Durand [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Luís de Freitas Branco (1890 - 1955), "La mort des pauvres", 1909, published 1997 [ medium voice and piano ], from Canções Francesas - La Mort, Trilogia da Morte, no. 2, Éd. Musicoteca Lisboa [sung text not yet checked]
• by (Rudolf) Walther Hirschberg (1889 - 1960), "La Mort des pauvres" [ medium voice and piano ], from 12 Mélodies, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Émile Naoumoff (b. 1962), "La mort des pauvres", 2005 [ voice and piano ], from Mélodies choisies, no. 7 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Nguyen Phuc Buu Phoi (b. 1945), "La Mort des pauvres", 2006?, published 2006 [ soprano and piano ], from Les Fleurs du Mal, six mélodies pour soprano et piano, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928 - 2016), "La mort des pauvres", subtitle: "Serenadi kuolemalle", 1978 [ men's chorus a cappella ], from Neljä serenadia = Four serenades, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Maurice Rollinat (1846 - 1903), "La mort des pauvres" [ voice and piano ], from Six nouvelles poésies de Ch. Baudelaire, no. 4, Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
• by Leo Smit (1900 - 1943), "La mort des pauvres", 1938 [ duet for soprano and alto with piano ], from La mort, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Aimée Strohl (1865 - 1941), "La Mort des Pauvres", published 1901 [ voice and piano ], from Dix poésies mises en musique, no. 9, Paris: F. Toledo & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Smrt chudých"
• ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "The Death of the Poor", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909
• GER German (Deutsch) (Stefan George) , "Der Tod der Armen", appears in Die Blumen des Bösen, in Der Tod, Berlin, Bondi, first published 1901

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 127

It is Death that consoles — yea, and causes our lives;
'Tis the goal of this Life — and of Hope the sole ray,
Which like a strong potion enlivens and gives
Us the strength to plod on to the end of the day.

And all through the tempest, the frost and the snows,
'Tis the shimmering light on our black sky-line;
'Tis the famous inn which the guide-book shows,
Whereat one can eat, and sleep, and recline;

'Tis an angel that holds in his magic hands
The sleep, which ecstatic dream commands,
Who remakes up the beds of the naked and poor ;

'Tis the fame of the gods, 'tis the granary blest,
'Tis the purse of the poor, and his birth-place of rest,
To the unknown Heavens, 'tis the wide-open door.