A Picture of God

Poem by François-René De Chateaubriand Collection Miscellaneous PoemsThemes ReligionPeriod 19th century

Do you know, O sinner! who this jealous God is
When the work of the wicked kindles his wrath?
On a thunder-bearing chariot he rolls through space;
Death and the Devil fly before his face;
The three heavens, whose immensity he makes tremble,
Bow down beneath the steps of his eternity;
The paling sun and the bleeding moon
Move by the gleam of his burning lance;
Out of the gulfs of hell he brings forth night;
He speaks, all is silent; the sea sees him, and flees,
And the Abyss, from the depths of the tormented waves,
Lifts crying toward him its terrified hands.
To crowned crime this God repeats: “Woe!”
And it is the same God who blesses sorrow!

Paris, 1810.

Chateaubriand

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-a-picture-of-god-francois-rene-de-chateaubriand/