Apparition, Poem by Victor Hugo

Poem by Victor Hugo Collection Les contemplationsThemes LovePeriod 19th century

I saw a white angel passing over my head;
Its dazzling flight calmed the tempest,
And silenced the noisy sea in the distance.
— What have you come to do, angel, in this night?
I said to it. — It answered: — I come to take your soul. —
And I was afraid, for I saw that it was a woman;
And I said to her, trembling and holding out my arms:
— What will I have left? for you will fly away. —
It did not answer; the sky besieged by shadow
Was fading… — If you take my soul, I cried out,
Where will you carry it? show me to what place.
It remained silent. — O passerby from the blue sky,
Are you death? I said to it, or are you life? —
And the night deepened over my enraptured soul,
And the angel turned black, and said: — I am love.
But its dark brow was more charming than the day,
And I could see, in the shadow where its eyes shone,
The stars through the feathers of its wings.

Victor Hugo

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