[2][3][4] It was first published in La Revue française [fr] in 1859, and was printed as the second poem in the second edition (1861) of Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal.

[5] Italian writer, literary critic, and university professor Antonio Prete [it] gave the poem a full treatment in his 1994 book L'albatros di Baudelaire.

L'un agace son bec avec un brûle-gueule, L'autre mime, en boitant, l'infirme qui volait !

Hardly have they put them on deck, When these kings of the azure, clumsy and ashamed, Pitifully let go their great white wings, Like oars dragging alongside them.

The Poet is like this prince of the clouds Who haunts the tempest and laughs at the archer; Exiled on the ground, in the midst of jeers, His giant wings keep him from walking.