With the Same Love You Once Were to Me, Poem by Emile Verhaeren

Poem by Emile Verhaeren Period 19th century

With the same love you once were to me long ago
A garden of splendor whose shifting thickets throw
Their shade on the long lawns and the docile roses,
You are in these dark times a calm and sure refuge.

All is gathered there, your fervor and your light
And your gestures grouping the flowers of your kindness,
But all is held close within a peace profound
Against the keen winds piercing the winter of the world.

My happiness warms itself in your folded arms
Your pretty words, naive and familiar,
Still sing, as charming to my ear
As in the days of white lilacs and red currants.

Your good humor, blithe and clear, oh! I feel it
Triumph day by day over the sorrow of the years,
And you smile yourself at the silver threads that slip
Their undulating web among your smooth hair.

When your head bows to my deep kiss,
What does it matter to me that wrinkles mark your brow
And that your hands are furrowed with hard veins
While I hold them between my two sure hands!

You never complain and you firmly believe
That nothing true ever dies when one loves duly,
And that the living fire on which our soul feeds
Consumes even grief to make its flame grow greater.

Emile Verhaeren

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

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