After the French of Victor Hugo

THE TOMB SAID TO THE ROSE

AFTER THE FRENCH OF VICTOR HUGO

THE tomb said to the rose:
—"With the tears thy leaves enclose,
What makest thou, love's flower?"
The rose said to the tomb:
—"Tell me of all those whom
Death gives into thy power!"

The rose said:—"Tomb, 't is strange,
But these tears of love I change
Into perfumes amber sweet."
The tomb said:—"Plaintive flower,
Of these souls, I make each hour
Angels, for heaven meet!"

"The Tomb Said to the Rose" by Florence Earle Coates. Published in The Unconquered Air (1912) and Poems (1916) Volume II.

EXALTATION

AFTER THE FRENCH OF VICTOR HUGO

ALONE by the waves, on a starlight night,
No mist on the sea, not a cloud in sight,
     My eyes pierced further than earth's desires;
And nature—all nature, the hills, and the woods,
Seemed to question, with murmur of myriad moods,
     The waves of the sea and the heavenly fires.

And the infinite legion of golden stars
Replied in a chant of harmonious bars,
     Their scintillant crowns seeming earthward to nod;
And the waves, which no puissance can rule or arrest,
Made answer, while curbing the foam of each crest:
     —It is God! it is God! it is God!

"Exaltation" by Florence Earle Coates. Published in Harper's Weekly (24 September 1910), The Unconquered Air (1912) and Poems (1916) Volume II.

Victor Hugo
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