Poems by Victor Hugo - HTML preview

NAPOLEON "THE LITTLE."

("Ah! tu finiras bien par hurler!")
     {Bk. III. ii., Jersey, August, 1852.}

How well I knew this stealthy wolf would howl,
       When in the eagle talons ta'en in air!
     Aglow, I snatched thee from thy prey—thou fowl—
       I held thee, abject conqueror, just where
     All see the stigma of a fitting name
       As deeply red as deeply black thy shame!
     And though thy matchless impudence may frame
       Some mask of seeming courage—spite thy sneer,
     And thou assurest sloth and skunk: "It does not smart!"
       Thou feel'st it burning, in and in,—and fear
     None will forget it till shall fall the deadly dart!