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Leopoldine Hugo (posthumous portrait
 by her sister, Adèle)

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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

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Paul Mankin: 19th century French poetry

Demain, dès l'aube

Victor Hugo

Demain, dès l'aube, à l'heure où blanchit la campagne,
Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m'attends.
J'irai par la forêt, j'irai par la montagne.
Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus longtemps.

Je marcherai les yeux fixés sur mes pensées,
Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre aucun bruit,
Seul, inconnu, le dos courbé, les mains croisées,
Triste et le jour pour moi sera comme la nuit.

Je ne regarderai ni l'or du soir qui tombe,
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Honfleur,
Et quand j'arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en fleur.

Tomorrow at Daybreak

Tomorrow at daybreak, when the fields are pale
I will leave. You see, I know that you wait for me.
I will cross the forest, I will cross the hills
I cannot live far from you any longer.

I will walk, my eyes seeing only mind's visions
Seeing nothing else, hearing not a sound
Alone, unknown, back bowed, hands crossed
Sad, and the day for me will be like the night

Looking not at the golden night that falls
Nor the sails from far descending on Honfleur
And when I arrive, I will place upon your grave
A wreath of green holly and heather in bloom.

Translated by Valerie Smith 

Victor Hugo

Tomorrow at Daybreak, or, in some translations, Tomorrow at Dawn, reflects Victor Hugo's immense grief over the death of his daughter, Leopoldine.

Read Hugo's poem to his other daughter: 
A ma fille Adèle

More links:

The Story of Adele H
starring Isabelle Adjani, 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

The Hunchback of Notre Dame starring Charles Laughton as the bellringer Quasimodo and Maureen O'Hara, as the beautiful Esmeralda.  DVD