In Memory of Gambetta, Poem by Charles Cros

Poem by Charles Cros Collection The Collar of ClawsPeriod 19th century

The great Lion is dead. The foxes remain,
The weasels, the dogs, the rats and the lizards.
These beasts are not absolutely impure;
They know how to eat our filthiest garbage
And can clean our most stinking sewers;
But He, the great Lion, had no such tastes,
He went through the age-old Forest,
And without concern to please or displease
Placed his good clawed paw among the hollies
Of the fences, and on the neat rows of cabbages,
Which the Tranquil, the Cowards (three or four
In France) water without thinking that we will fight.
The clawed paw was beautiful, crushing the cabbages;
And you lizards, you dogs, rats, weasels and you
Foxes, who will restore your mad assurance?

The great Lion is dead, in the Forest of France.

Charles Cros

Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.

Text published on Poésies 123: https://www.poesies123.com/en/poem-a-la-memoire-de-gambetta-charles-cros/