Artemis

Poem by Gérard De Nerval Period 19th century

The Thirteenth returns… It is still the first;
And it is always the Only one, – or it is the only moment:
For are you Queen, O You! the first or last?
Are you King, you the only or the last lover? …

Love the one who loved you from the cradle to the grave;
The one I alone loved still loves me tenderly:
It is Death – or the Dead woman… O delight! O torment!
The rose she holds, it is the Rose trémière.

Neapolitan saint with hands full of fires,
Rose with a violet heart, flower of Saint Gudula,
Have you found your Cross in the desert of the skies?

White roses, fall! you insult our Gods,
Fall, white phantoms, from your burning sky:
– The saint of the abyss is holier in my eyes!

Gérard de Nerval

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