| Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893. | | | | Translations | From the French.
My Secret |
| | By Félix Arvers
MY soul its secret has, my life too has its mystery, | |
| A love eternal in a moment’s space conceived; | |
| Hopeless the evil is, I have not told its history, | |
| And she who was the cause nor knew it nor believed. | |
| Alas! I shall have passed close by her unperceived, | 5 |
| Forever at her side, and yet forever lonely, | |
| I shall unto the end have made life’s journey, only | |
| Daring to ask for naught, and having naught received. | |
| For her, though God has made her gentle and endearing, | |
| She will go on her way distraught and without hearing | 10 |
| These murmurings of love that round her steps ascend, | |
| Piously faithful still unto her austere duty, | |
| Will say, when she shall read these lines full of her beauty, | |
| “Who can this woman be?” and will not comprehend. | | | | |
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