soundsofsilences

:abduction:

This is one of my favorite words. In English the word spleen was customary during the period of the 18th century. Writers used it to characterize the hypocondriacal and hysterical affections. In French, "splénétique" refers to a state of pensive sadness or melancholy. And yes, I am reading Baudelaire... Spleen When the cold heavy sky weighs like a lid On spirits whom eternal boredom grips, And the wide ring of the horizon's hid In daytime darker than the night's eclipse: When the world seems a dungeon, damp and small, Where hope flies like a bat, in circles reeling, Beating his timid wings against the wall And dashing