The Supreme Expectation & The Dark Star by Jean Delville

Translation

L'Ecole de Platon by Jean Delville (1898)

The Supreme Expectation

As the bulging dusk yearns for the bright dawn,
as winter yearns for sultry summer’s moan,
I yearn for clarity I’ve never known
from which a budding new world could be drawn.

As the ripe wheat sings of harvests to come,
as the blue sweep calls to the stars to sprawl,
I yearn for that hour when the veils will fall,
and the gods will yield their utmost wisdom.

As all that which weeps and suffers on earth,
as the dark forest, the unfettered sea,
my soul yearns, my heart of hearts is ready;
I feel the flow of imminent rebirth.

My hope’s held in so many dreams and lives.
Universal love’s cure of creation.
And future splendor’s annunciation,
It’s this – unknown ideal – I pray arrives!

The Dark Star

From hell’s deep in evil and chasm’s gate
one can see the dark dint of Satan’s star
in a two-faced panic, throwing afar
its vile beams at the heart of the apostate.

Satan kindles this most grim flame of sin
to turn the eyes of the guilty and torn
and overwhelm all those who are born
with the wild blazes of his darkling grin.

Twisting his tyranny with absurdity,
contrary to Love, Heaven, Truth, and Beauty,
it’s grave deceit born of graver ignorance.

Oh! you old star of death, you terrible beacon,
you are but a cold night – a woeful impotence –
for the bright blood of Christ is the soul of the sun!

Translations by Michael Shindler

La Suprême Attente

Comme la grande nuit attend la claire aurore,
comme l’hiver aspire aux souffles de l’été,
j’attends venir aussi l’inconnue clarté
d’où le monde nouveau doit jaillir et s’éclore.

Comme le blé mûr songe aux prochaines moissons,
comme l’immense azur appelle des étoiles,
j’attends que l’heure vienne où se lèvent les voiles,
où les dieux vont donner leurs divines leçons.

Comme tout ce qui pleure et souffre sur la terre,
comme la vaste mer et la sombre forêt,
mon âme triste attend, mon cœur profond est prêt ;
je sens venir le flux dont tout se régénère.

Dans ce qui rêve et vit mes espoirs sont latents.
L’universel amour transforme la nature.
L’annonciation de la splendeur future,
c’est tout mon Idéal méconnu que j’attends !

l'Étoile Noire

Du plus profond enfer du mal et du néant
l'on voit le noir éclat de l'astre satanique
darder sinistrement, comme en une panique,
ses néfastes rayons au coeur du mécréant.

Sathan brûle ce feu sombre des maléfices
pour fasciner les yeux coupables et damnés
et pour faire jaillir sur tous ceux qui sont nés
le chaos infernal des ténèbres complices.

Mêlant son despotisme à son absurdité,
contre le Beau, l'Amour, le Ciel, la Vérité,
c'est le mensonge haineux et la lourde ignorance.

O! vieil astre de mort, effroyable appareil,
vous êtes la nuit froide et la morne impuissance,
car le sang clair du Christ est l'âme du soleil!

Jean Delville, born Jean Libert (19 January 1867 – 19 January 1953), was a Belgian symbolist painter, author, poet, polemicist, teacher, and Theosophist. Delville was the leading exponent of the Belgian Idealist movement in art during the 1890s. He held, throughout his life, the belief that art should be the expression of a higher spiritual truth and that it should be based on the principle of Ideal, or spiritual Beauty.

Michael Shindler is a writer living in Washington, DC. His work has been published in outlets including The American Spectator, The American Conservative, Church Life, University Bookman, North American Anglican and New English Review. Follow him on Twitter: @MichaelShindler.