Hymn to Christ

Poem by Alphonse De Lamartine Collection Harmonies poétiques et religieusesThemes ReligionPeriod 19th century

… The star the Magi saw bloom at your cradle,
The star that guided the shepherds of the dawn
Toward the God crowned with poverty and insult,
Shed upon the earth a day that still shines,
Which every age in turn receives, blesses, adores,
Which in the night of time never fades away,
And will not be extinguished when the heavens are extinguished!

Yet they say that this star veils itself,
That the lights of the century have vanquished this star;
That this aged world no longer needs you!
That reason alone is immortal and divine,
That the rust of time has gnawed away your doctrine,
And that from day to day, from your ruined temple,
Some falling stone uproots your faith!

… O you who made this second dawn rise,
Whose harmony a second chaos saw be born,
Word that bore, along with truth,
Justice and tolerance, love and liberty!
Reign forever, O Christ, over human reason,
And from man to his God be the divine chain!
Illuminate endlessly with your dazzling fires
The centuries asleep in the cradle of time!
And may your name, bequeathed as the only heritage,
Pass down from age to age, from mother to child,
As long as the eye in the night thirsts for light,
And the heart for hope and immortality!
As long as plaintive and desolate humanity
Waters its earthly valley with tears,
And as long as virtues keep their altars,
Or have not changed their name among mortals!
As for me, whether your name rises again or succumbs,
O God of my cradle, be the God of my tomb!
The darker the night, the more my weak eyes
Cling to the torch that pales in the skies;
And should the broken altar that the crowd abandons
Collapse upon me!… temple I cherish,
Temple where I received everything, temple where I learned everything,
I would still embrace your last column,
Even if I must be crushed beneath your sacred ruins!

Alphonse de Lamartine

Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.

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