The Calm Regrets, Poem by Auguste Angellier

Poem by Auguste Angellier Collection To the Lost FriendThemes LovePeriod 19th century

In what calm regrets does your resigned spirit
Wander, bearing an august sadness there;
Or, quivering with hatred for unjust fate,
From what bitter regrets does it rise indignant?

By what secret efforts, ceaselessly triumphant
And ceaselessly renewed, do you feed your torment?
And in what long kisses on your children’s brows
Do you believe you can find the price of sacrifice?

Ah! perhaps at the moment when your lip touches them,
Execrable thought that startles my heart
More than your most desperate sobs,

Perhaps the kiss stops on your mouth,
And finds a bitterness in those adored brows,
In those innocent brows that have separated us!

Auguste Angellier

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