You who entered my plaintive heart

like the thrust of the knife;

you who, powerful as a herd

of demons, wild and ready,

made your bed and your domain

in my humiliated self

--Infamous one to whom I am tied

like a convict to a chain,

like a gambler to his game,

like the drunkard to his bottle,

like vermin to a corpse,

--cursed one, be damned.

           -from, "The Vampire"

             Charles Beaudelaire