Come When I Sleep.

A poem by Victor Marie Hugo

("Oh, quand je dors.")

[XXVII.]


Oh! when I sleep, come near my resting-place,
As Laura came to bless her poet's heart,
And let thy breath in passing touch my face -
At once a space
My lips will part.

And on my brow where too long weighed supreme
A vision - haply spent now - black as night,
Let thy look as a star arise and beam -
At once my dream
Will seem of light.

Then press my lips, where plays a flame of bliss -
A pure and holy love-light - and forsake
The angel for the woman in a kiss -
At once, I wis,
My soul will wake!

WM. W. TOMLINSON.