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("Aveugle comme Hom're.")

[Improvised at the Caf' de Paris.]


Blind, as was Homer; as Belisarius, blind,
But one weak child to guide his vision dim....

("Qui leur e't dit l'aust're destine'?")

[II. v., November, 1836.]


Who then, to them[1] had told the Future's story?
Or said that France, low bowed before their glory,...

("Le cheval galopait toujours.")

[Bk. XV. ii. 10.]


The good steed flew o'er river and o'er plain,
Till far away, - no need of spur or rein.
The child, half rapture, half solicitude,...

("Sur une barricade.")

[June, 1871.]


Like Casabianca on the devastated deck,
In years yet younger, but the selfsame core.
Beside the battered barricado's restless wreck,...

("Oh! qu'est-ce que c'est donc que l'Inconnu.")

[January, 1871.]


Who then - oh, who, is like our God so great,
Who makes the seed expand beneath the mountain's weight;...

("Prenez garde ' ce petit 'tre.")

[LAUS PUER: POEM V.]


Take heed of this small child of earth;
He is great: in him is God most high.
Children before their fleshly birth...

("Devant la blanche ferme.")

[XV., May, 1837.]


Before the farm where, o'er the porch, festoon
Wild creepers red, and gaffer sits at noon,
Whilst strutting fowl display their varied crests,...

("Mon p're, ce h'ros au sourire.")

[Bk. XLIX. iv.]


My sire, the hero with the smile so soft,
And a tall trooper, his companion oft,
Whom he loved greatly for his courage high...

("Monseigneur le Duc de Bretagne.")

[VI., October, 1825.]


My lord the Duke of Brittany
Has summoned his barons bold -
Their names make a fearful litany!...

("Quoi! ne pouvez-vous vivre ensemble?")

[XXXV., June, 1828.]


The River Deity upbraids his Daughters, the contributary Streams: -

Ye daughters mine! will naught abate...

("Mes jeunes cavaliers.")

[HERNANI, Act I., March, 1830.]


What business brings you here, young cavaliers?
Men like the Cid, the knights of bygone years,...

("Pendant que dans l'auberge.")

[Bk. IV. xiii., Jersey, November, 1852.]


While in the jolly tavern, the bandits gayly drink,
Upon the haunted highway, sharp hoof-beats loudly clink?...

("Murs, ville et port.")

[XXVIII., Aug. 28, 1828.]


Town, tower,
Shore, deep,
Where lower
Cliff's steep;
Waves gray,
Where play
Winds gay,
All sleep.
...

("Oh! vous aurez trop dit.")

[Bk. III. xiv., April, 1843.]


Ah, you said too often to your angel
There are other angels in the sky -
There, where nothing changes, nothing suffers,...

("Encore si ce banni n'e't rien aim' sur terre.")

[V, iv., August, 1832.]


Too hard Napoleon's fate! if, lone,
No being he had loved, no single one,
Less dark that doom had been....

("O dix-huiti'me si'cle!")

[IV. vi]


O Eighteenth Century! by Heaven chastised!
Godless thou livedst, by God thy doom was fixed.
Thou in one ruin sword and sceptre mixed,...

("Un bouffon manquait ' cette f'te.")

[LES BURGRAVES, Part II.]

...

("Un lion avait pris un enfant.")

[XIII.]


A Lion in his jaws caught up a child -
Not harming it - and to the woodland, wild
With secret streams and lairs, bore off his prey -...

("Quand longtemps a grond' la bouche du V'suve.")

[I. vii.]


When huge Vesuvius in its torment long,
Threatening has growled its cavernous jaws among,...

("Si je pouvais voir, O patrie!")

[Bk. III. xxxvii.]


Would I could see you, native land,
Where lilacs and the almond stand
Behind fields flowering to the strand -
But no!
...