Victor Hugo
Two Daughters
In the cool twilight of entrancing nightfall,
one is like a swan, the other, a dove.
Beautiful, both filled with joy – a vision!
The sisters, one big and one little,
seated on a garden bench. Above them,
in a marble urn, and waving in the wind:
white carnations on long delicate stems bow
down, looking at them, so still and so alive,
and quiver in the dusk, curving around the vase,
a flight of butterflies stayed in ecstasy.
| Mes Deux Filles |
L’une pareille au cygne et l’autre à la colombe,
Belles, et toutes eux joyeuses, ô douceur!
Voyez, la grande soeur et la petite soeur
Sont assises au seuil du jardin, et sur elles
Un bouquet d’oeillets blancs aux longues tiges frêles,
Dans une urne de marbre agité par le vent,
Se penche, et les regarde, immobile et vivant,
Et frissone dans l’ombre, et semble, au bord du vase,
Un vol de papillons arrêté dans l’extase
(Victor Hugo: Les Contemplations: Autrefois)
Translated by Joan Sheridan Smith
Page(s) 64
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