Classic Poem

FROM THE FRENCH OF VICTOR HUGO.

Little darlings, return to my desolate room!
Since I drove you away, it is mantled in gloom; —
Since I drove you away, with rude, menacing words; —
What harm had you done me, you dear little birds?
Little rosy-lipped bandits; — what Japanese vase
Did you dash into fragments? — What picture deface?
Ah, none: you but stopped in my study a minute,
To plunder my desk of some papers within it —
Some manuscript verses devoted to Fame;
Which you threw in the fire, and fanned to a flame;
To see, as you said, how the wandering sparks
Ran over the paper like lamp-lighted barques,
Or gleamed, as from window to window at night,
One sees in the houses a vanishing light.
Then muttering vengeance, in menacing tone,
I shouted, " Begone, imps, and leave me alone!
You have burnt up my verses, entitled " To Fame:"
I shall die, and the world never hear of my name. "

Great loss then, indeed! and great cause for dismay, —
A strophe, ill-born in the noise of your play!
Great Bobadil verses that puffed as they went,
And swaggered their impotent meanings to vent;
And long Alexandrines, entangling their feet
Like a pack of rude school-boys, let loose in the street.
You did but redeem from a fate more obscure
The rhyme that some newspaper waited to lure
To that cavernous cell, called the poet's own nook,
Where no reader of newspapers pauses to look.
For this have I raved! Ah, I blush to recall
How I sat, with my chair leaning back to the wall,
Still muttering vengeance, in menacing tone,
And repeating " Begone, imps, and leave me alone! "

Alone! fine result, and great triumph! alone!
Forgotten — forlorn, like a toad in a stone!
And here have you left me, — my eye on the door,
Grave, haughty, severe, — but you mind me no more;
For without you have found all you sought to obtain, —
All the freedom that here you had sighed for in vain, —
The fresh air, the streamlet that runs through the grass,
Where you fling in sweet blossoms and leaves as you pass;
The breezes, the flowers, the perfumes divine, —
Ah, this poem of God is far better than mine!
You may pluck out the leaves of his book without fear,
Nor tremble the voice of the tyrant to hear: —
His roses and pinks you may rifle all day,
Nor regret the dull room whence I drove you away.
As for me, all the joy of my day has departed;
I sit in my chair — half asleep, heavy hearted,
While old Doctor Ennui, a Londoner, born
Of fogs and the Thames on a December morn,
Who waited to enter till you had gone out,
Has moped in my study all day in a pout,
And, usurping your corner, sits grouty and grim,
He gaping at me, and I gaping at him.

The pages I turned with such zeal to explore,
The books and the manuscripts please me no more:
I miss, o'er my shoulder, the sweet, peering face,
I miss the small finger to point out the place,
The nudge of the elbow, the sly little kiss,
The brow full of candor, that always said " Yes, "
The great eyes of wonder, the frolicksome screams,
The sweet humming voices that lapt me in dreams.

Return little birds! — since I drove you away
I have lost all the sunshine and bloom of my day.
Take my teacups, enameled with butterflies' wings, —
All my Dresden and Sevres and beautiful things: —
You may twirl the round globe, the big map may unroll,
And sketch out new countries with crayon and coal.
My pictures and statues are waiting for you, —
My vases of jasper and bright or-molu:
Of my corals and shells you may gather your fill,
And my malachite tables may mount at your will.
Your whooping and hiding, — to all I agree;
Your trooping and training are music to me.
Like heroes, returned from some great battle ground,
You may drag my old armchair in triumph around:
My great painted Bible may turn o'er and o'er, —
That book you ne'er touched but with terror before, —
Where you see on the page, in fine colors displayed,
Dieu le pere , in an emperor's habit arrayed!
Then return, little doves! to my desolate room;
Since I drove you away, it is mantled in gloom; —
Oh, return! you may ransack and rifle and reign,
So you will but forgive me, and love me again.