Samuel Waddington, comp. The Sonnets of Europe. 1888.
The AppointmentSully Prudhomme (18391907)
Translated by Arthur O’Shaughnessy
’T
Exploring all the dark, descries afar
Orbs that like distant isles of splendour are,
And mornings whitening in the infinite.
Or swarm in glistening spaces nebular;
He summons one dishevelled wandering star,—
Return ten centuries hence on such a night.
Cheat Science, or falsify her calculation;
Men will have passed, but watchful in the tower
And should all men have perished there in turn,
Truth in their place would watch that star’s return.