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You who console nature in the dying day,
Appear, torch of the nights, rise in the heavens;
Spread around me, over the pale green,
The doubtful glimmers of a mysterious day!
All the unfortunate cherish your light;
The bright splendor of day repels their sorrows:
Before the sun’s gaze they close their eyelids,
And reopen before you their eyes drowned in tears.
Come guide my steps toward the tomb
Where your ray has descended,
Where each evening my knee falls
Upon a holy name almost erased.
But what! the stone repels it!…
I hear!… yes! footsteps on the moss!
A faint breath has murmured;
My eye grows troubled, I stagger:
No, no, it is no longer you; it is she
Whose gaze has pierced me!…
Is it truly you? you who lean
Over the one who was your lover?
Speak; let your divine lips
Pronounce a single word.
That word your mouth murmured
When, hovering over your dark bed,
Death interrupted your voice.
Her mouth begins… Ah! I finish:
Yes, it is you! it is no dream!
Angels of heaven, I see her again!…
Thus the ardent prayer
Pierces heaven and hell!
Your soul has crossed the barrier
That separates two universes!
Glory to your name, God who sends her!
Your grace has permitted me to see
What my eyes always sought.
What do you want? must I die?
Here, I give you for this hour
All the hours of my days!
But what! on this ray the shadow already flies away!
For a century of tears a single word!
Is that all?… It is enough! Star that I have sung,
I will forever bless your pious clarity,
Whether in our climes, empire of storms,
Like a vessel sailing on the sea of clouds,
You rarely pierce the sad obscurity;
Or whether under this beautiful sky, favorable to your light,
In a limpid azure pursuing your course,
You gild the hills with the colors of morning;
Or whether, balancing on a tranquil sea,
And tinting its motionless surface with your fires,
Your silvered rays break in the waters!
Alphonse de Lamartine
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-apparition-alphonse-de-lamartine/