A Poem by Victor Hugo
The most revered French author was something of a lecher who loved few things more than sex. He had a string of lovers and mistresses, including Sarah Bernhardt, and his own daughter-in-law. The French are as reluctant to discuss this as the British, Dickens’ blatant racism_ and I don’t just mean Fagin. But no one can deny the quality of his writing.
Enfant, si j’étais roi, je donnerais l’empire,
Enfant, si j’étais roi, je donnerai l’empire
Et mon char, et mon sceptre, et mon peuple à genoux,
Et ma couronne d’or, et mes bains de porphyre,
Et mes flottes, à qui la mer ne peut suffire,
Pour un regard de vous!
…
Si j’étais Dieu, la terre et l’air avec les ondes,
Les anges, les démons courbés devant ma loi,
Et le profond chaos aux entrailles fécondes,
L’éternité, l’espace et les cieux et les mondes,
Pour un baiser de toi!
Child were I the king I’d give you all I own
Child were I the king I’d give you all I own
My kneeling subjects, my sceptre, my alabaster
Bath tubs, my royal coach and my golden crown
And my navy for which there isn’t enough sea
For a glimpse of you.
…
Were I God, the earth and the air and then the waves
The angels, the demons bowing to my laws like slaves
And the complete chaos with fecund entrails
Eternity, Space, the Heavens and all this entails
For a kiss from you
