Poem: “Death, in Life” by Victor Hugo

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French Literature – French Poetry – Victor Hugo – Poems by Victor Hugo
< < < Inscription for a Crucifix
The Dying Child to its Mother > > >

Death, in Life

(Quia pulvis es“Ceux-ci partent.”)

{Bk. III. v., February, 1843.}

We pass—these sleep
Beneath the shade where deep-leaved boughs
Bend o’er the furrows the Great Reaper ploughs,
And gentle summer winds in many sweep
Whirl in eddying waves
The dead leaves o’er the graves.

And the living sigh:
Forgotten ones, so soon your memories die.
Ye never more may list the wild bird’s song,
Or mingle in the crowded city-throng.
Ye must ever dwell in gloom,
‘Mid the silence of the tomb.

And the dead reply:
God giveth us His life. Ye die,
Your barren lives are tilled with tears,
For glory, ye are clad with fears.
Oh, living ones! oh, earthly shades!
We live; your beauty clouds and fades.

La tour des rats de Victor Hugo - 1847 — La tour des rats de Victor Hugo – 1847

< < < Inscription for a Crucifix
The Dying Child to its Mother > > >

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

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Death, in Life

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