Since in my soul a sombre blossom
Broods, and the suns of yore take flight ...
O hide me in thy pallid bosom,
And it shall be the calm of night!
Discouragement.
VILLIERS DE L’ISLE-ADAM
Athwart the unclean ages whirled
To solitary woods sublime,
Oh! had I first beheld this world
Alone and free in Nature’s prime!
When on its loveliness first seen
Eve cast her pure blue eyes abroad:
When all the earth was fresh and green,
And simple Man believed in God!
When sacred accents, vibrating
Beneath the naked sun and sky,
Rose from each new-created thing
To hail the Lord of Life on high;
I would have learned and lived in hope
And loved! For in those vanished days,
Faith wandered on the mountain-slope ...
But now the world has changed her ways:
Our feet, less free, less fugitive,
Tread beaten tracks from shore to shore ...
Alas! what is the life we live?
—A dream of days that are no more!
The Black Panther.
LECONTE DE LISLE