Les enfants pauvres (Poor Little Children)

Victor Marie Hugo 1802 (Besançon) – 1885 (Paris)



Prenez garde à ce petit être ;
Il est bien grand, il contient Dieu.
Les enfants sont, avant de naître,
Des lumières dans le ciel bleu.

Dieu nous les offre en sa largesse ;
Ils viennent ; Dieu nous en fait don ;
Dans leur rire il met sa sagesse
Et dans leur baiser son pardon.

Leur douce clarté nous effleure.
Hélas, le bonheur est leur droit.
S'ils ont faim, le paradis pleure.
Et le ciel tremble, s'ils ont froid.

La misère de l'innocence
Accuse l'homme vicieux.
L'homme tient l'ange en sa puissance.
Oh ! quel tonnerre au fond des cieux,

Quand Dieu, cherchant ces êtres frêles
Que dans l'ombre où nous sommeillons
Il nous envoie avec des ailes,
Les retrouve avec des haillons !

Poor Little Children

Mother birdie stiff and cold,
Puss has hushed the other's singing;
Winds go whistling o'er the wold,
Empty nest in sport a-flinging:
Poor little birdies!

Faithless shepherd strayed afar,
Playful dog the gadflies catching;
Wolves bound boldly o'er the bar,
Not a friend the fold is watching:
Poor little lambkins!

Father into prison fell,
Mother begging through the parish;
Baby's cot they too will sell:
Who will now feed, clothe, and cherish?
Poor little children!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:03 min read
172

Quick analysis:

Scheme abax cxcd abab xccc ccxc D bebex fefec ghghD
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,166
Words 199
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1, 5, 5, 5

Victor Marie Hugo

Victor Marie Hugo was a French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. He is considered one of the greatest and best known French writers. In France, Hugo's literary fame comes first from his poetry but also rests upon his novels and his dramatic achievements. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem. Outside France, his best-known works are the novels Les Misérables, 1862, and Notre-Dame de Paris, 1831. Though a committed royalist when he was young, Hugo's views changed as the decades passed; he became a passionate supporter of republicanism, and his work touches upon most of the political and social issues and artistic trends of his time. He was buried in the Panthéon. more…

All Victor Marie Hugo poems | Victor Marie Hugo Books

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