the Albertros. By Charles Baudelaire. 1821 to 1867. Often, to amuse themselves, the crew of the ship would fell in Albertros, the largest of sea birds, indolent companions of their trip as they slide across the deep seas' bitters. Scarcely had they dropped to the plank than these blue kings, Mallor droit and ashamed let the great white wings sink like an awed dragging under the waters' plane. The winged visitor, so awkward and weak. So recently beautiful, now comic and ugly. One sailor grinds a pipe into his beak, another, limping, mimics the infirm bird that once could fly. The poet is like the prince of the clouds who haunts the storm and laughs at lightning. He's exiled to the ground and its hooting crowds, his giant wings prevent him from walking.