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The evening brings back silence.
Seated on these deserted rocks,
I am in the vague airs
The chariot of the advancing night.
Venus rises on the horizon;
At my feet the amorous star.
With its mysterious glow
Whitens the carpets of grass.
From this beech with somber foliage
I hear the branches shiver:
One would say around the tombs
That one hears a shadow fluttering.
Suddenly detached from the skies,
A ray of the nocturnal star,
Gliding over my silent brow,
Comes softly to touch my eyes.
Sweet reflection of a globe of flame,
Charming ray, what do you want of me?
Do you come into my stricken breast
To carry light to my soul?
Do you descend to reveal to me
The divine mystery of worlds?
The secrets hidden in the sphere
Where the day will call you back?
Does a secret intelligence
Address you to the unhappy?
Do you come at night to shine on them
Like a ray of hope?
Do you come to unveil the future
To the weary heart that implores you?
Divine ray, are you the dawn
Of the day that must not end?
My heart at your clarity kindles,
I feel unknown transports,
I think of those who are no more
Sweet light, are you their soul?
Perhaps these happy shades
Glide thus over the grove?
Enveloped in their image,
I believe I feel myself closer to them!
Ah! if it is you, cherished shadows!
Far from the crowd and far from the noise,
Return thus each night
To mingle with my reveries.
Bring back peace and love
Into the bosom of my exhausted soul,
Like the nocturnal dew
That falls after the fires of day.
Come!… but funereal vapors
Rise from the edges of the horizon:
They veil the sweet ray,
And everything returns to the darkness.
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-the-evening-alphonse-de-lamartine/