Poem: “The Patience of the People” by Victor Hugo

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French Literature – French Poetry – Victor Hugo – Poems by Victor Hugo
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Dictated before the Rhone Glacier > > >

The Patience of the People

(“Il s’est dit tant de fois.”)

{III., May, 1830.}

How often have the people said: “What’s power?”
Who reigns soon is dethroned? each fleeting hour
Has onward borne, as in a fevered dream,
Such quick reverses, like a judge supreme—
Austere but just, they contemplate the end
To which the current of events must tend.
Self-confidence has taught them to forbear,
And in the vastness of their strength, they spare.
Armed with impunity, for one in vain
Resists a nation, they let others reign.

G.W.M. REYNOLDS.

< < < My Napoleon
Dictated before the Rhone Glacier > > >

French Literature – French Poetry – Victor Hugo – Poems by Victor Hugo

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The Patience of the People

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