A Poem by Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo wrote the poem Les Enfant Pauvres in 1868, specially to be offered as a prize in a lottery organised to help destitute children. The lucky winner sold it soon after to a collector, and after a number of transfers, it was found yesterday at the bottom of a dusty cupboard with lots of old papers in the Lycée Victor Hugo, in Besançon, the writer’s birthplace.
I present the poem in its original version and my translation in English.
Destitute Children
Don’t avoid these frail little urchins
They’re quite big as they contain God
Who fashioned them from blue sky light
Before gently dropping them on earth.
They’re God’s bounteous offer to us
They arrive here, gifts from above;
Their laughter is wrapped in wisdom
And from their kiss drips forgiveness.
The sweet light they radiate touches us.
Beware, happiness is their birthright.
When they go without food, paradise weeps
And Heavens shiver when they are cold.
The penury of innocence
Accuses the heartless man
Holding the li’l angels by the throat.
Oh how thunder roars from above.
When God seeks those frail beings
In the shadows where we slumber
He finds that the angel wings he gave them
Have turned to unspeakable rags.
The original
Les Enfants Pauvres
Prenez garde à ce petit être ;
Il est bien grand, il contient Dieu.
Les enfants sont, avant de naître,
Des lumières dans le ciel bleu.
Dieu nous les offre en sa largesse ;
Ils viennent ; Dieu nous en fait don ;
Dans leur rire il met sa sagesse
Et dans leur baiser son pardon.
Leur douce clarté nous effleure.
Hélas, le bonheur est leur droit.
S’ils ont faim, le paradis pleure.
Et le ciel tremble, s’ils ont froid.
La misère de l’innocence
Accuse l’homme vicieux.
L’homme tient l’ange en sa puissance.
Oh ! quel tonnerre au fond des cieux,
Quand Dieu, cherchant ces êtres frêles
Que dans l’ombre où nous sommeillons
Il nous envoie avec des ailes,
Les retrouve avec des haillons !
