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THE GAMBLED song lyrics
by Joel Sattler, based on Baudelaire

based on a translation of "Le Jeu"
from FLEURS DU MAL by Charles Baudelaire

in faded loungers ancient whores
in penciled brows and fatal eyes
smirk and rattle with their ears
pot metal paste fallaleries

lipless faces green felt tables
white lipped toothless jaws
fingers convulse feverish
searching pockets a lost cause

smoke stain ceiling chandeliers
lit with lamps an oily glare
famous poets come to waste
their luck and every penny there

as in uffish dream I saw
myself as seated at the game
head in hand and envious
of those who give the odds a name

jealous of their fervent lust
every hand I hold a bust
but old sluts love this funeral
of virtue and its burial

my heart was terrified to see
the poor men giving up as well
drunk with their own blood and afraid
of nothingness, preferring Hell


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