Evening by the Sea

Poem by François-René De Chateaubriand Collection Nature PaintingsThemes Nature, SeaPeriod 18th century

The thick woods, the bleak, bare sandbanks,
Mingle their edges in the hoary shadows.
Sparkling in the azure zenith,
One sees the lonely star pierce through:
In the west, severed from the land,
The reef whitens beneath a pure horizon,
While in the north, over the crystalline seas,
The cloud floats in purple vapors.
The mountains are outlined in vivid carmine;
The plaintive voice of the evening wind dies away;
And softly chained one to another,
The calmed waves expire on the shore.
All is grandeur, pomp, mystery, love:
And nature, in the last fires of day,
With its mountains, its magnificent forests,
Its sublime plan and its eternal order,
Rises like a solemn temple,
Resplendent with its ancient beauties.
The sanctuary into which God enters
Seems veiled by a holy night;
But in the air the bold dome,
Of divine arts, gracious harmony,
Offers a contour painted with the fresh colors
Of the rainbow, of dawn, and of flowers.

Chateaubriand

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