FROM VICTOR HUGO

Child, were I king, I'd yield my royal rule,

My chariot, sceptre, vassal-service due,

My crown, my porphyry-basined waters cool,

My fleets, whereto the sea is but a pool,

For a glance from you!

Love, were I God, the earth and its heaving airs,

Angels, the demons abject under me,

Vast chaos with its teeming womby lairs,

Time, space, all would I give — aye, upper spheres,

For a kiss from thee!