Love
Before Your Light Quite Fail
Translated by Gertrude Hall (1895) · From La Bonne Chanson (1870)
Before your light quite fail,
Already paling star,
(The quail
Sings in the thyme afar!)
Turn on the poet's eyes
That love makes overrun--
(See rise
The lark to meet the sun!)
Your glance, that presently
Must drown in the blue morn;
(What glee
Amid the rustling corn!)
Then flash my message true
Down yonder,--far away!--
(The dew
Lies sparkling on the hay.)
Across what visions seek
The Dear One slumbering still.
(Quick, quick!
The sun has reached the hill!)
Cite this poem
MLA
Verlaine, Paul. “Before Your Light Quite Fail.” Translated by Gertrude Hall. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/verlaine/10/.
Chicago
Verlaine, Paul. “Before Your Light Quite Fail.” Translated by Gertrude Hall. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/verlaine/10/.
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