When You Gather, You Noisy Multitude, Poem by Victor Hugo

Poem by Victor Hugo Collection Les Rayons et les OmbresPeriod 19th century

XXXII

When you gather, you noisy multitude,
To hunt him down even into his solitude,
Urging each other on, fierce and implacable,
— Do you not feel it? — the serious people,
Who at your cries dreamed of a dragon in his lair,
With flame in his eyes, with scales on his belly,
Are astonished to see no other object for your blows
Than this pensive man, mysterious and gentle.
April 27, 1839.

Victor Hugo

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