The Laurel in the Generalife Garden

The Laurel in the Generalife Garden
by Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier, translated by Frederic Cesar De Sumichrast and Agnes Lee
130014The Laurel in the Generalife GardenFrederic Cesar De Sumichrast and Agnes LeePierre Jules Théophile Gautier

In the Generalife a lovely laurel,
    Gay as victory and glad as love,
Bathes its boughs in fountain mists auroral,
Hides a pearl within each bloom of coral.
    And the green earth smiles to heaven above.

Like a blushing girl elate and slender,
    Tint of flesh it taketh with the spring;
Like an odalisk in her nude splendour,
Waiting by the water, flushed and tender,
    Ready for her fair apparelling.

Beauteous laurel! Many a mystic hour
    Have I rested me beside its form,
Sealed my lips upon its precious flower —
Sweet red mouth! — and, thrilling to its power,
    Felt it give me back my kisses warm.


This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.


The longest-living author of this work died in 1939, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 84 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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