Poetry Codex

French

Emile Verhaeren

1855–1916

Emile Verhaeren was born in 1855 at Sint-Amands, near Antwerp, and grew up on the banks of the Scheldt amid the Flemish plains. He studied at Ghent and Louvain, was called to the Bar at Brussels in 1881, and soon gave up law for literature, publishing his first volume of poems in 1883 and writing for the review L'Art Moderne. He was a friend of Maeterlinck and a leading figure of the Belgian literary revival known as Young Belgium.

His work moves from the vigorous Flemish scenes of Les Flamandes through the anguished books of the 1880s to the visionary village and city poems of Les Villages illusoires and Les Villes tentaculaires, and to the tender love-songs of Les Heures claires, written for his wife. A master of free verse, he died in 1916. The English versions gathered here are by Alma Strettell (1915), Jethro Bithell (1911) and F. S. Flint (1916), with one poem by Osman Edwards (1896).

Poems (135)

  1. The Shining Hours, I: O the splendour of our joy
  2. The Shining Hours, II: Although we saw this bright garden
  3. The Shining Hours, III: This barbaric capital, whereon monsters writhe
  4. The Shining Hours, IV: The sky has unfolded into night
  5. The Shining Hours, V: Each hour I brood upon your goodness
  6. The Shining Hours, VI: Sometimes you wear the kindly grace
  7. The Shining Hours, VII: Oh! let the passing hand
  8. The Shining Hours, VIII: As in the simple ages
  9. The Shining Hours, IX: Young and kindly spring
  10. The Shining Hours, X: Come with slow steps
  11. The Shining Hours, XI: How readily delight is aroused in her
  12. The Shining Hours, XII: At the time when I had long suffered
  13. The Shining Hours, XIII: And what matters the wherefores
  14. The Shining Hours, XIV: In my dreams, I sometimes pair you
  15. The Shining Hours, XV: I dedicate to your tears
  16. The Shining Hours, XVI: I drown my entire soul in your two eyes
  17. The Shining Hours, XVII: To love with our eyes
  18. The Shining Hours, XVIII: In the garden of our love
  19. The Shining Hours, XIX: May your bright eyes, your eyes of summer
  20. The Shining Hours, XX: Tell me, my simple and tranquil sweetheart
  21. The Shining Hours, XXI: During those hours wherein we are lost
  22. The Shining Hours, XXII: Oh! this happiness, sometimes so rare
  23. The Shining Hours, XXIII: Let us, in our love and ardour
  24. The Shining Hours, XXIV: So soon as our lips touch
  25. The Shining Hours, XXV: To prevent the escape of any part of us
  26. The Shining Hours, XXVI: Although autumn this evening
  27. The Shining Hours, XXVII: The gift of the body when the soul is given
  28. The Shining Hours, XXVIII: Was there in us one fondness
  29. The Shining Hours, XXIX: The lovely garden blossoming with flames
  30. The Shining Hours, XXX: If it should ever happen that
  31. The Hours of Afternoon, I: Step by step, day by day
  32. The Hours of Afternoon, II: Roses of June, you the fairest
  33. The Hours of Afternoon, III: If other flowers adorn the house
  34. The Hours of Afternoon, IV: The darkness is lustral
  35. The Hours of Afternoon, V: I bring you this evening, as an offering
  36. The Hours of Afternoon, VI: Let us both sit down on the old worm-eaten bench
  37. The Hours of Afternoon, VII: Gently, more gently still
  38. The Hours of Afternoon, VIII: In the house chosen by our love
  39. The Hours of Afternoon, IX: The pleasant task with the window open
  40. The Hours of Afternoon, X: In the depth of our love dwells all faith
  41. The Hours of Afternoon, XI: Dawn, darkness, evening, space and the stars
  42. The Hours of Afternoon, XII: This is the holy hour when the lamp is lit
  43. The Hours of Afternoon, XIII: The dead kisses of departed years
  44. The Hours of Afternoon, XIV: For fifteen years
  45. The Hours of Afternoon, XV: I thought our joy benumbed for ever
  46. The Hours of Afternoon, XVI: Everything that lives about us
  47. The Hours of Afternoon, XVII: Because you came one day
  48. The Hours of Afternoon, XVIII: On days of fresh and tranquil health
  49. The Hours of Afternoon, XIX: Out of the groves of sleep I came
  50. The Hours of Afternoon, XX: Alas! when the lead of illness
  51. The Hours of Afternoon, XXI: Our bright garden is health itself
  52. The Hours of Afternoon, XXII: It was June in the garden
  53. The Hours of Afternoon, XXIII: The gift of yourself
  54. The Hours of Afternoon, XXIV: Oh! the calm summer garden where nothing moves!
  55. The Hours of Afternoon, XXV: As with others, an hour has its ill-humour
  56. The Hours of Afternoon, XXVI: The golden barks of lovely summer
  57. The Hours of Afternoon, XXVII: Ardour of senses, ardour of hearts
  58. The Hours of Afternoon, XXVIII: The still beauty of summer evenings
  59. The Hours of Afternoon, XXIX: You said to me, one evening
  60. The Hours of Afternoon, XXX: "Hours of bright morning"
  61. The Hours of Evening, I: Dainty flowers, like a froth of foam
  62. The Hours of Evening, II: If it were true that a garden flower
  63. The Hours of Evening, III: The wistaria is faded and the hawthorn dead
  64. The Hours of Evening, IV: Draw up your chair near mine
  65. The Hours of Evening, V: Be once more merciful and cheering to us, light
  66. The Hours of Evening, VI: Alas! the days of the crimson phlox
  67. The Hours of Evening, VII: The evening falls, the moon is golden
  68. The Hours of Evening, VIII: When your hand
  69. The Hours of Evening, IX: And now that the lofty leaves have fallen
  70. The Hours of Evening, X: When the starry sky covers our dwelling
  71. The Hours of Evening, XI: With the same love that you were for me
  72. The Hours of Evening, XII: The flowers of bright welcome
  73. The Hours of Evening, XIII: When the fine snow with its sparkling grains
  74. The Hours of Evening, XIV: If fate has saved us from commonplace errors
  75. The Hours of Evening, XV: No, my heart has never tired of you
  76. The Hours of Evening, XVI: How happy we are still
  77. The Hours of Evening, XVII: Shall we suffer, alas! the dead weight of the years
  78. The Hours of Evening, XVIII: The small happenings, the thousand nothings
  79. The Hours of Evening, XIX: Come even to our threshold
  80. The Hours of Evening, XX: When our bright garden was gay
  81. The Hours of Evening, XXI: With my old hands lifted to your forehead
  82. The Hours of Evening, XXII: If our hearts have burned
  83. The Hours of Evening, XXIII: In this rugged winter
  84. The Hours of Evening, XXIV: Perhaps, when my last day comes
  85. The Hours of Evening, XXV: Oh! how gentle are your hands
  86. The Hours of Evening, XXVI: When you have closed my eyes to the light
  87. Rain
  88. The Ferryman
  89. The Silence
  90. The Bell-Ringer
  91. The Snow
  92. The Grave-Digger
  93. The Wind
  94. The Fishermen
  95. The Rope-Maker
  96. Les Heures claires, I
  97. Les Heures claires, VIII
  98. Les Heures claires, XVII
  99. Les Heures claires, XXI
  100. St. George
  101. The Gardens
  102. She of the Garden
  103. The Glory of the Heavens
  104. Life
  105. Joy
  106. The Old Masters
  107. The Cowherd
  108. The Art of the Flemings
  109. Peasants
  110. Fogs
  111. On the Coast
  112. Homage
  113. Canticles
  114. Dying Men
  115. The Arms of Evening
  116. The Mill
  117. In Pious Mood
  118. The Ferryman
  119. The Rain
  120. The Fishermen
  121. Silence
  122. The Rope-Maker
  123. Saint George
  124. In the North
  125. The Town
  126. The Music-Hall
  127. The Butcher's Stall
  128. A Corner of the Quay
  129. My Heart is as it Climbed a Steep
  130. When I was as a Man that Hopeless Pines
  131. Lest Anything Escape from our Embrace
  132. I Bring to You as Offering To-night
  133. In the Cottage where our Peaceful Love Reposes
  134. This is the Good Hour when the Lamp is Lit
  135. The Sovran Rhythm

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