Poem: “Before Your Light Quite Fail” by Paul Verlaine

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Before Your Light Quite Fail

Before your light quite fail,
Already paling star,
(The quail
Sings in the thyme afar!)

Turn on the poet’s eyes
That love makes overrun—
(See rise
The lark to meet the sun!)

Your glance, that presently
Must drown in the blue morn;
(What glee
Amid the rustling corn!)

Then flash my message true
Down yonder,—far away!—
(The dew
Lies sparkling on the hay.)

Across what visions seek
The Dear One slumbering still.
(Quick, quick!
The sun has reached the hill!)
O’ER THE WOOD’S BROW

O’er the wood’s brow,
Pale, the moon stares;
In every bough
Wandering airs
Faintly suspire….

O heart’s-desire!

Two willow-trees
Waver and weep,
One in the breeze,
One in the deep
Glass of the stream….

Dream we our dream!

An infinite
Resignedness
Rains where the white
Mists opalesce
In the moon-shower….

Stay, perfect hour!

Translated by Gertrude Hall

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