The Patience Of The People

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Title:     The Patience Of The People
Author: Victor Hugo [More Titles by Hugo]

("Il s'est dit tant de fois.")

[III., May, 1830.]

How often have the people said: "What's power?"
Who reigns soon is dethroned? each fleeting hour
Has onward borne, as in a fevered dream,
Such quick reverses, like a judge supreme--
Austere but just, they contemplate the end
To which the current of events must tend.
Self-confidence has taught them to forbear,
And in the vastness of their strength, they spare.
Armed with impunity, for _one in vain_
Resists a _nation_, they let others reign.

 

Translated by G.W.M. REYNOLDS.

[The end]
Victor Hugo's poem: Patience Of The People

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