The Age Has Come, Step by Step, a Poem by Emile Verhaeren

Poem by Emile Verhaeren Period 19th century

The age has come, step by step, day by day,
To lay its hands on the bare brow of our love
And, with its dimmer eyes, has looked upon it.

And, in the fair garden that July has wrinkled,
The flowers, the groves and the living leaves
Have let fall a little of their fervent strength
On the pale pond and on the soft paths.
At times, the sun marks, harsh and jealous,
A hard shadow, around its light.

Yet still here are the late-blooming flowerings
That persist in shooting up toward their splendor,
And though the seasons weigh upon our life,
All the roots of our two hearts
More than ever plunge, unquenched,
And clench and sink deep, into happiness.

Oh! those afternoons girded with roses
That entwine around time and rest
Their cheek in flower and fire, against its chilled flank!

And nothing, nothing is better than to feel thus,
Happy and clear still, after how many years!
But if another had been destiny
And we both had been bound to suffer,
— Even so! — oh! I would have loved to live and die,
Without complaint, of an obstinate love.

Emile Verhaeren

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-the-age-has-come-step-by-step-day-by-day-emile-verhaeren/