Was There in Us a Single Tenderness

Poem by Emile Verhaeren Period 19th century

Was there in us a single tenderness,
A thought, a joy, a promise,
That we did not sow ahead of our steps?

Was there a prayer secretly heard,
Whose outstretched hands we did not clasp
Gently against our breast?

Was there a single call, a single design,
A wish tranquil or violent
Whose impulse we did not hasten?

And, loving each other thus,
Our hearts went forth, like apostles,
Toward the sweet hearts, timid and chilled,
Of others,
They invited them, through thought,
To feel themselves betrothed to ours,
To proclaim love with frank ardors,
As a people of flowers loves the same branch,
Which suspends them and bathes them in the sun;
And our soul, as if enlarged, in this awakening,
Began to celebrate all that loves,
Magnifying love for love itself,
And to cherish, divinely, with a mad desire,
The entire world that is summed up in us.

Emile Verhaeren

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-was-there-in-us-a-single-tenderness-emile-verhaeren/