Often, to amuse themselves, the men of a crewCatch albatrosses, those vast sea birdsThat indolently follow a shipAs it glides over the deep, briny sea.
Scarcely have they placed them on the deckThan these kings of the sky, clumsy, ashamed,Pathetically let their great white wingsDrag beside them like oars.
That winged voyager, how weak and gauche he is,So beautiful before, now comic and ugly!One man worries his beak with a stubby clay pipe;Another limps, mimics the cripple who once flew!
The poet resembles this prince of cloud and skyWho frequents the tempest and laughs at the bowman;When exiled on the earth, the butt of hoots and jeers,His giant wings prevent him from walking.
