University of Virginia Library


259

HUGO AND ZOLA

I.

Eternal light is in the rhymes
Of Hugo.—Thence the sun
Beams forth on far-off lands and climes:
There Love is wooed, and won.
There, fairer than in all great strains
That listening mankind knows,
Rings forth the song of hills and plains,
The chant of star and rose.

II.

Eternal truth is in the words
Of Zola.—Thence its power
Flames forth on earth's pale servile herds,
To France a deathless dower.

260

Glory to France, the land of Art,
In that, vast ends to gain,
She brought forth Hugo's perfect heart,
Then moulded Zola's brain.
Oct. 7, 1902.