Tenebrae

Emile Verhaeren 1855 (Sint-Amands) – 1916 (Rouen)



A moon, with vacant, chilling eye, stares
At the winter, enthroned vast and white upon the hard ground;
The night is an entire and translucent azure;
The wind, a blade of sudden presence, stabs.

Far away, on the skylines, the long pathways of frost,
Seen, in the distance, to pierce the expanses,
And stars of gold, suspended to the zenith,
Always higher, amid the ether, to rend the blue of the sky.

The villages crouched in the plains of Flanders,
Near the rivers, the heather, and the great forests,
Between two pale infinities, shiver with cold,
Huddled near old hearthsides, where they stir the ashes.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 28, 2023

32 sec read
105

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXX XXXX XXXX
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 603
Words 107
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4

Emile Verhaeren

Emile Verhaeren was a Belgian poet who wrote in the French language, and one of the chief founders of the school of Symbolism. more…

All Emile Verhaeren poems | Emile Verhaeren Books

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