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That kiss the buds, and all the flutterings
In jasmine bloom, and privet, of white wings,

That go and come, and fly, and peep and hide,
With muffled music, murmured far and wide!

Ah, Spring time, when we think of all the lays
That dreamy lovers send to dreamy mays,

Of the fond hearts within a billet bound,
Of all the soft silk paper that pens wound,

The messages of love that mortals write
Filled with intoxication of delight,

Written in April, and before the May time
Shredded and flown, play things for the wind's play-time,

We dream that all white butterflies above,
Who seek through clouds or waters souls to love,

And leave their lady mistress in despair,
To flit to flowers, as kinder and more fair,

Are but torn love-letters, that through the skies
Flutter, and float, and change to Butterflies.

MORE STRONG THAN TIME.
VICTOR HUGO.

SINCE I have set my lips to your full cup, my sweet,
Since I my pallid face between your hands have laid,

Since I have known your soul, and all the bloom of it,
And all the perfume rare, now buried in the shade;

Since it was given to me to hear one happy while,
The words wherein your heart spoke all its mysteries,

Since I have seen you weep, and since I have seen you smile,
Your lips upon my lips, and your eyes upon my eyes;

Since I have known above my forehead glance and gleam,
A ray, a single ray, of your star, veiled always,

Since I have felt the fall, upon my lifetime's stream,
Of one rose petal plucked from the roses of your days;

I now am bold to say to the swift changing hours,
Pass, pass upon your way, for I grow never old,

Fleet to the dark abysm with all your fading flowers,
One rose that none may pluck, within my heart I hold.

Your flying wings may smite, but they can never spill
The cup fulfilled of love, from which my lips are wet;

My heart has far more fire than you have frost to chill,
My soul more love than you can make my soul forget.

AN OLD TUNE.
GERARD DE NERVAL.

THERE is an air for which I would disown
Mozart's, Rossini's, Weber's melodies, -

A sweet sad air that languishes and sighs,
And keeps its secret charm for me alone.

Whene'er I hear that music vague and old,
Two hundred years are mist that rolls away;

The thirteenth Louis reigns, and I behold
A green land golden in the dying day.

An old red castle, strong with stony towers,
The windows gay with many coloured glass;

Wide plains, and rivers flowing among flowers,
That bathe the castle basement as they pass.

In antique weed, with dark eyes and gold hair,
A lady looks forth from her window high;

It may be that I knew and found her fair,
In some forgotten life, long time gone by.

JUANA.
ALFRED DE MUSSET.

AGAIN I see you, ah my queen,
Of all my old loves that have been,

The first love, and the tenderest;
Do you remember or forget -

Ah me, for I remember yet -
How the last summer days were blest?

Ah lady, when we think of this,
The foolish hours of youth and bliss,

How fleet, how sweet, how hard to hold!
How old we are, ere spring be green!

You touch the limit of eighteen
And I am twenty winters old.

My rose, that mid the red roses,
Was brightest, ah, how pale she is!

Yet keeps the beauty of her prime;
Child, never Spanish lady's face

Was lovely with so wild a grace;
Remember the dead summer time.

Think of our loves, our feuds of old,
And how you gave your chain of gold

To me for a peace offering;
And how all night I lay awake

To touch and kiss it for your sake, -
To touch and kiss the lifeless thing.

Lady, beware, for all we say,
This Love shall live another day,

Awakened from his deathly sleep;
The heart that once has been your shrine

For other loves is too divine;
A home, my dear, too wide and deep.

What did I say - why do I dream?
Why should I struggle with the stream

Whose waves return not any day?
Close heart, and eyes, and arms from me;

Farewell, farewell! so must it be,
So runs, so runs, the world away,

The season bears upon its wing
The swallows and the songs of spring,

And days that were, and days that flit;
The loved lost hours are far away;

And hope and fame are scattered spray
For me, that gave you love a day

For you that not remember it.
SPRING IN THE STUDENT'S QUARTER.

HENRI MURGER.
WINTER is passing, and the bells

For ever with their silver lay
Murmur a melody that tells

Of April and of Easter day.
High in sweet air the light vane sets,

The weathercocks all southward twirl;
A sou will buy her violets

And make Nini a happy girl.
The winter to the poor was sore,

Counting the weary winter days,
Watching his little fire-wood store,

The bitter snow-flakes fell always;
And now his last log dimly gleamed,

Lighting the room with feeble glare,
Half cinder and half smoke it seemed

That the wind wafted into air.
Pilgrims from ocean and far isles

See where the east is reddening,
The flocks that fly a thousand miles

From sunsetting to sunsetting;
Look up, look out, behold the swallows,

The throats that twitter, the wings that beat;
And on their song the summer follows,

And in the summer life is sweet.
* * * * * *

With the green tender buds that know
The shoot and sap of lusty spring

My neighbour of a year ago
Her casement, see, is opening;

Through all the bitter months that were,
Forth from her nest she dared not flee,

She was a study for Boucher,
She now might sit to Gavarni.

OLD LOVES.
HENRI MURGER.

LOUISE, have you forgotten yet
The corner of the flowery land,

The ancient garden where we met,
My hand that trembled in your hand?

Our lips found words scarce sweet enough,
As low beneath the willow-trees

We sat; have you forgotten, love?
Do you remember, love Louise?

Marie, have you forgotten yet
The lovingbarter that we made?

The rings we changed, the suns that set,
The woods fulfilled with sun and shade?

The fountains that were musical
By many an ancient trysting tree -

Marie, have you forgotten all?
Do you remember, love Marie?

Christine, do you remember yet
Your room with scents and roses gay?

My garret - near the sky 'twas set -
The April hours, the nights of May?

The clear calm nights - the stars above
That whispered they were fairest seen

Through no cloud-veil? Remember, love!
Do you remember, love Christine?

Louise is dead, and, well-a-day!
Marie a sadder path has ta'en;

And pale Christine has passed away
In southern suns to bloom again.

Alas! for one and all of us -
Marie, Louise, Christine forget;

Our bower of love is ruinous,
And I alone remember yet.

MUSETTE.
HENRI MURGER. 1850

YESTERDAY, watching the swallows' flight
That bring the spring and the season fair,

A moment I thought of the beauty bright
Who loved me, when she had time to spare;

And dreamily, dreamily all the day,
I mused on the calendar of the year,

The year so near and so far away,
When you were lief, and when I was dear.

Your memory has not had time to pass;
My youth has days of its lifetime yet;

If you only knocked at the door, alas,
My heart would open the door, Musette!

Still at your name must my sad heart beat;
Ah Muse, ah maiden of faithlessness!

Return for a moment, and deign to eat
The bread that pleasure was wont to bless.

The tables and curtains, the chairs and all,
Friends of our pleasure that looked on our pain,

Are glad with the gladness of festival,
Hoping to see you at home again;

Come, let the days of their mourning pass,
The silent friends that are sad for you yet;

The little sofa, the great wine glass -
For know you had often my share, Musette.

Come, you shall wear the raiment white
You wore of old, when the world was gay,

We will wander in woods of the heart's delight


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