Twilight, Poem by Victor Hugo

Poem by Victor Hugo Collection Les contemplationsThemes NaturePeriod 19th century

The mysterious pond, shroud with white moiré patterns,
Shivers; deep in the woods the clearing appears;
The trees are deep and the branches are black;
Have you seen Venus through the forest?

Have you seen Venus on the hilltops?
You who pass in the shadows, are you lovers?
Brown paths are full of white muslins;
The grass awakens and speaks to sleeping sepulchers.

What does it say, the blade of grass? and what does the tomb reply?
Love, you who live! it is cold under the yews.
Lip, seek the mouth! love one another! night is falling;
Be happy while we are pensive.

God wills that we have loved. Live! make others envy,
O couples passing beneath the green hazel tree.
All that into the tomb, leaving life,
One carried away of love, one uses to pray.

The dead women of today were once the belles.
The glowworm in the shadow wanders with its torch.
The wind makes quiver, amid the sheaves,
The blade of grass, and God makes the tomb quiver.

The shape of a black roof outlines a cottage;
In the meadows one hears the heavy step of the reaper;
The star in the skies, like a flower of light,
Opens and makes radiate its splendid freshness.

Love one another! it is the month when strawberries are ripe.
The dreamy angel of evening, who floats in the winds,
Mingles, carrying them off on its dark wings,
The prayers of the dead with the kisses of the living.

Victor Hugo

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