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One day the gloomy spirit...:

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VII. "One day the gloomy spirit, the prophet sublime,"
Victor Hugo
translated by Geoffrey Barto

One day the gloomy spirit
Who dreamed at Patmos
And reading, trembling, on the wall of the abyss
With these lugubrious words,
Said to his eagle: "O Monster! you must carry me,
I want to see Jehovah."

The eagle obeyed. He crossed through the doors of the sky;
At last, John arrived;
He saw the nameless place of which no archangel dares
To cross the middle,
And this redoubtable place was full of shadows
Because of the greatness of God.

Drawn from Contemplations, Au bord de l'infini
Copyright Geoffrey Barto, 2002

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