I Will Take the Two Little Children by the Hand

Poem by Victor Hugo Collection The Art of Being a GrandfatherThemes ChildhoodPeriod 19th century

I will take the two little children by the hand;
I love the woods where roe deer and fawns are found,
Where spotted stags follow the white does
And rise in the shade, frightened by the branches;
For wild beasts are so full of mist
That the cool trembling of leaves makes them afraid.
The trees have this depth: they show you
That only Eden is true, that hearts meet there,
And that, apart from loves and nests, all is vain;
Theocritus often in the divine thicket
Thought he heard the maenad walking softly.
It is there that I will take my slow walk
With the two little ones. I will hear in turn
What Georges advises Jeanne, sweet love,
And what Jeanne teaches George. As a patriarch
Led by the children, I will regulate my pace
By the time their games and meals will take,
And by the amiable smallness of their steps.
They will pick flowers, they will eat blackberries.
O vast appeasement of the forests! O murmurs!
April comes to calm all, coming to perfume all.
I have no other business here below but to love.

Victor Hugo

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