La Fée Et La Péri (The Fay And The Peri)

I

Enfants ! si vous mouriez, gardez bien qu'un esprit
De la route des cieux ne détourne votre âme !
Voici ce qu'autrefois un vieux sage m'apprit : -
Quelques démons, sauvés de l'éternelle flamme,
Rebelles moins pervers que l'Archange proscrit,
Sur la terre, où le feu, l'onde ou l'air les réclame,
Attendent, exilés, le jour de Jésus-Christ.
Il en est qui, bannis des célestes phalanges,
Ont de si douces voix qu'on les prend pour des anges.
Craignez-les : pour mille ans exclus du paradis,
Ils vous entraîneraient, enfants, au purgatoire ! -
Ne me demandez pas d'où me vient cette histoire;
Nos pères l'ont contée; et moi, je la redis.

II

LA PÉRI

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poem by Victor Hugo
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The Cemetary Of Eylau

This to my elder brothers, schoolboys gay,
Was told by Uncle Louis on a day;
He bid me play, with tender voice and bland,
Thinking me still too young to understand.
Howe'er, I listened, and his tale was this:—
'A battle? Bah!—and know you what it is?
A deal of smoke. You rise at dawn, and late
You go to bed. Here's one that I'll relate:
The battle is called Eylau. As I wot,
I then was captain, and the Cross had got;
Yes, I was captain,—after all, in war
Man but a shadow is, and does not score;
But ne'er mind me. Eylau, you understand,
Is part of Prussia,—water, wood, and land,
Ice, winter everywhere, and rain, and snow.

'Well, we were camped a ruined wall below,
And round the ancient belfry tombs appear.
Bénigssens' tactics were, first to come near,
Then fly. The Emperor such arts disdains,

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poem by Victor Hugo
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