Littell's Living Age/Volume 133/Issue 1719/The Tomb and the Rose

by Victor Hugo

For other English-language translations of this work, see La tombe dit à la rose.

THE TOMB AND THE ROSE.

TRANSLATION, FROM VICTOR HUGO.

The tomb asked of the rose:
⁠"What dost thou with the tears, which dawn
⁠Sheds on thee every summer morn,
Thou sweetest flower that blows?"
The rose asked of the tomb:
⁠"What dost thou with the treasures rare,
⁠Thou hidest deep from light and air,
Until the day of doom?"

The rose said: "Home of night,
⁠Deep in my bosom, I distil
⁠Those pearly tears to scents, that fill
The senses with delight."
The tomb said: "Flower of love,
⁠I make of every treasure rare,
⁠Hidden so deep from light and air,
A soul for heaven above!"

⁠Chambers' Journal.A. J. M.