The Marksman

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section thirteen of Little Poems and Prose by Charles Baudelaire.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The marksman,
as the carriage traversed the wood, he bade the driver
draw up in the neighborhood of a shooting gallery, saying
that he would like to have a few shots to kill.

(00:22):
Time is not the slaying of the monster. Time the
most ordinary and legitimate occupation of men. So he gallantly
offered his hand to his dear, adorable and execrable wife,
the mysterious woman to whom he owed so many pleasures,
so many pains, and perhaps also a great part of
his genius. Several bullets went wide of the proposed mark.

(00:44):
One of them flew far into the heavens, And as
the charming creature laughed deliriously mocking the clumsiness of her husband,
he turned to her brusquely and said, observe that dull
yonder to the right, with its nose in the air,
and with so haughty an appearance. Very well, dear angel,
I will imagine to myself that it is you. He

(01:05):
closed both eyes and pulled the trigger. The doll was
neatly decapitated, Then bending towards his dear, adorable and execrable wife,
his inevitable and pitiless muse. He kissed her respectfully upon
the hand, and added, AH, dear angel, how I thank
you for my skill into Section thirteen.