THE OCEAN'S SONG

by: Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

E walked amongst the ruins famed in story
Of Rozel-Tower,
And saw the boundless waters stretch in glory
And heave in power.

O Ocean vast! We heard thy song with wonder,
Whilst waves marked time.
"Appear, O Truth!" thou sang'st with tone of thunder,
"And shine sublime!

"The world's enslaved and hunted down by beagles,
To despots sold.
Souls of deep thinkers, soar like mighty eagles!
The Right uphold.

"Be born! arise! o'er the earth and wild waves bounding,
Peoples and suns!
Let darkness vanish; tocsins be resounding,
And flash, ye guns!

"And you who love no pomps of fog or glamour,
Who fear no shocks,
Brave foam and lightning, hurricane and clamour,--
Exiles: the rocks!"

This English translation of "The Ocean's Song" was composed by Toru Dutt (1856-1877).

THE GENESIS OF BUTTERFLIES

by: Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

HE dawn is smiling on the dew that covers
The tearful roses; lo, the little lovers
That kiss the buds, and all the flutterings
In jasmine bloom, and privet, of white wings,
That go and come, and fly, and peep and hide,
With muffled music, murmured far and wide.
Ah, the Spring time, when we think of all the lays
That dreamy lovers send to dreamy mays,
Of the fond hearts within a billet bound,
Of all the soft silk paper that pens wound,
The messages of love that mortals write
Filled with intoxication of delight,
Written in April and before the May time
Shredded and flown, playthings for the wind's playtime,
We dream that all white butterflies above,
Who seek through clouds or waters souls to love,
And leave their lady mistress in despair,
To flit to flowers, as kinder and more fair,
Are but torn love-letters, that through the skies
Flutter, and float, and change to butterflies.

This English translation of "The Genesis of Butterflies" was composed by Andrew Lang (1844-1912).

Thank you yoko for posting Victor Hugo.

Among his best-known works are The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Misérables.



THE GRAVE AND THE ROSE
VICTOR HUGO.

The Grave said to the Rose,
'What of the dews of dawn,
Love's flower, what end is theirs?'
'And what of spirits flown,
The souls whereon doth close
The tomb's mouth unawares?'
The Rose said to the Grave.

The Rose said, 'In the shade
From the dawn's tears is made
A perfume faint and strange,
Amber and honey sweet.'
'And all the spirits fleet
Do suffer a sky-change,
More strangely than the dew,
To God's own angels new,'
The Grave said to the Rose.

THE POOR CHILDREN

by: Victor Hugo

AKE heed of this small child of earth;
He is great; he hath in him God most high.
Children before their fleshly birth
Are lights alive in the blue sky.

In our light bitter world of wrong
They come; God gives us them awhile.
His speech is in their stammering tongue,
And his forgiveness in their smile.

Their sweet light rests upon our eyes.
Alas! their right to joy is plain.
If they are hungry Paradise
Weeps, and, if cold, Heaven thrills with pain.

The want that saps their sinless flower
Speaks judgment on sin's ministers.
Man holds an angel in his power.
Ah! deep in Heaven what thunder stirs,

When God seeks out these tender things
Whom in the shadow where we sleep
He sends us clothed about with wings,
And finds them ragged babes that weep!


I love Les Miserables and The Huntchback of Notre Dame. I have seen Les Miserables twice and read the book about three times.

Love,
Sue

Thank you for posting yoko.

I have not read Les Miserables or the Hunchback of Notre Dame, but I will do so.

I like the poetry.

Love,
Vicky

MORE STRONG THAN TIME
VICTOR HUGO.

Since I have set my lips to your full cup, my sweet,
Since I my pallid face between your hands have laid,
Since I have known your soul, and all the bloom of it,
And all the perfume rare, now buried in the shade;

Since it was given to me to hear one happy while,
The words wherein your heart spoke all its mysteries,
Since I have seen you weep, and since I have seen you smile,
Your lips upon my lips, and your eyes upon my eyes;

Since I have known above my forehead glance and gleam,
A ray, a single ray, of your star, veiled always,
Since I have felt the fall, upon my lifetime's stream,
Of one rose petal plucked from the roses of your days;

I now am bold to say to the swift changing hours,
Pass, pass upon your way, for I grow never old,
Fleet to the dark abysm with all your fading flowers,
One rose that none may pluck, within my heart I hold.

Your flying wings may smite, but they can never spill
The cup fulfilled of love, from which my lips are wet;
My heart has far more fire than you have frost to chill,
My soul more love than you can make my soul forget.

Thank you for posting.
I love Victor Hugo. I have read many of his works and I also have enjoyed Les Miserables, the play.

Sincerely,
Gisele

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo



Published during Hugo's lifetime
Nouvelles Odes (1824)
Bug-Jargal (1826)
Han d'Islande (1823) (Hans of Iceland)
Odes et Ballades (1826)
Cromwell (1827)
Les Orientales (1829)
Le Dernier jour d'un condamné (1829)
Hernani (1830)
Notre-Dame de Paris (1831), (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
Marion Delorme (1831)
Les Feuilles d'automne (1831)
Le roi s'amuse (1832)
Lucrèce Borgia (1833) (Lucretia Borgia)
Marie Tudor (1833)
Étude sur Mirabeau (1834)
Littérature et philosophie mêlées (1834)
Claude Gueux (1834)
Angelo (1835)
Les Chants du crépuscule (1835)
Les Voix intérieures (1837)
Ruy Blas (1838)
Les Rayons et les ombres (1840)
Le Rhin (1842)
Les Burgraves (1843)
Napoléon le Petit (1852)
Les Châtiments (1853)
Lettres à Louis Bonaparte (1855)
Les Contemplations (1856)
La Légende des siècles (1859)
Les Misérables (1862), (on which the very successful musical of the same name is based)
William Shakespeare (essay) (1864)
Les Chansons des rues et des bois (1865)
Les Travailleurs de la Mer (1866), (Toilers of the Sea)
Paris-Guide (1867)
L'Homme qui rit (1869), (The Man Who Laughs)
L'Année terrible (1872)
Quatre-vingt-treize (Ninety-Three) (1874)
Mes Fils (1874)
Actes et paroles — Avant l'exil (1875)
Actes et paroles - Pendant l'exil (1875)
Actes et paroles - Depuis l'exil (1876)
La Légende des Siècles 2e série (1877)
L'Art d'être grand-père (1877)
Histoire d'un crime 1re partie (1877)
Histoire d'un crime 2e partie (1878)
Le Pape (1878)
Religions et religion (1880)
L'Âne (1880)
Les Quatres vents de l'esprit (1881)
Torquemada (1882)
La Légende des siècles Tome III (1883)
L'Archipel de la Manche (1883)
Poems of Victor Hugo


[edit] Published posthumously
Théâtre en liberté (1886)
La fin de Satan (1886)
Choses vues - 1re série (1887)
Toute la lyre (1888)
Alpes et Pyrénées (1890)
Dieu (1891)
France et Belgique (1892)
Toute la lyre - nouvelle série (1893)
Correspondances - Tome I (1896)
Correspondances - Tome II (1898)
Les années funestes (1898)
Choses vues - 2e série (1900)
Post-scriptum de ma vie (1901)
Dernière Gerbe (1902)
Mille francs de récompense (1934)
Océan. Tas de pierres (1942)
Pierres (1951)
Conversations with Eternity

Thank you everyone.

Like Sue, I saw the play "Les Miserables" and this made me be read the book, which I really enjoyed . I have also become interested in his other works.
Thank you Gisele for the list.

I have seen an old movie version of" The Hunchback of Notre Dame', but I have not yet read the book. It is terribly sad, so I will wait a while before attempting to read it.

yoko


Good actions are the
invisible hinges on the
doors to heaven.

-Victor Hugo