Isabelle Adjani as Adèle Hugo in
The Story of Adèle H
the period in the life of Hugo's other daughter, Adèle,
when she runs to the other side of the world to pursue
a man who does not love her. DVD
Tout enfant, tu dormais près de moi, rose et fraîche,
Comme un petit Jésus assoupi dans sa crèche;
Ton pur sommeil était si calme et si charmant
Que tu n'entendais pas l'oiseau chanter dans l'ombre;
Moi, pensif, j'aspirais toute la douceur sombre
Du mystérieux firmament.
Et j'écoutais voler sur ta tête les anges ;
Et je te regardais dormir ; et sur tes langes
J'effeuillais des jasmins et des oeillets sans bruit;
Et je priais, veillant sur tes paupières closes;
Et mes yeux se mouillaient de pleurs, songeant aux choses
Qui nous attendent dans la nuit.
Un jour mon tour viendra de dormir ; et ma couche,
Faite d'ombre, sera si morne et si farouche
Que je n'entendrai pas non plus chanter l'oiseau;
Et la nuit sera noire; alors, ô ma colombe,
Larmes, prière et fleurs, tu rendras à ma tombe
Ce que j'ai fait pour ton berceau.
To My Daughter, Adèle
Translated by Valerie Smith
My baby, sleeping close to me, all pink and fresh,
like a tiny drowsy Jesus in his crèche;
In your innocent sleep, so calm and so charming,
You do not hear the bird singing in the shadows
Pensively, I inhale all the sweet darkness
of the mysterious heavens.
And I listen to the angels flying above your head;
And watch you sleeping; and over your coverlets
Noiselessly, I strip the leaves from jasmine and carnation;
As I pray, watching over your shuttered eyelids;
My eyes well up full with water, dreaming of things
That await us in the night.
One day, my turn will come to sleep; and my sleep
will be so shadowy, so gloomy, so wild and deep
That I will hear the singing bird no more;
And the night will be black; then, o my dove,
You will return to my tomb,
the tears, prayers and flowers
That I bestrewed by your cradle.
Victor Hugo
contemplates the circle of life as he sits by his sleeping baby,
Adèle who was born in 1830. She was the only one of his children
who would outlive him.
Read
Hugo's poem after the death of his daughter, Leopoldine: Demain, dès l'aube
More links:
The Hunchback of Notre Dame starring Charles Laughton as the bellringer Quasimodo
and Maureen O'Hara, as the beautiful Esmeralda. DVD
Les Miserables 1995
starring Jean-Paul Belmondo in a spell-binding story in which he plays Jean
Valjean and Henri Fortin, a modern-day Jean Valjean. VHS
starring Charles Laughton as the bellringer Quasimodo
and Maureen O'Hara, as the beautiful Esmeralda. DVD
All the great tunes from the Broadway musical. DVD
starring Jean-Paul Belmondo in a spell-binding story in which he plays Jean
Valjean and Henri Fortin, a modern-day Jean Valjean. VHS
