Religion

Invocation

by Victor Hugo 1802–1885

Translated by G.W.M. Reynolds (1888) · From Les Chants du crépuscule (1849)

Religion

Say, Lord! for Thou alone canst tell
Where lurks the good invisible
Amid the depths of discord's sea--
That seem, alas! so dark to me!
Oppressive to a mighty state,
Contentions, feuds, the people's hate--
But who dare question that which fate
Has ordered to have been?
Haply the earthquake may unfold
The resting-place of purest gold,
And haply surges up have rolled
The pearls that were unseen!

✦ ✦ ✦

[V, vi., August, 1832.]

MLA

Hugo, Victor. “Invocation.” Translated by G.W.M. Reynolds. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/hugo/30/.

Chicago

Hugo, Victor. “Invocation.” Translated by G.W.M. Reynolds. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/hugo/30/.

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