The evening brings back silence.
Seated on these deserted rocks
I track in the hazy air
The advancing chariot of night.

Venus rises on the horizon;
At my feet the amorous star
With its mysterious radiance
Turns the lawn’s carpet white.

From the beech wood’s dark foliage
I hear the palms rustle :
It seems that from the tombs
You can hear a ghost flutter.

Suddenly leaving the heavens,
A ray from the nocturnal star
Glides upon my solemn brow
And arrives to gently touch my eyes.

Gentle reflection of that globe of flame,
Charming ray, what do you want of me?
Do you come to my battered breast
To bring light to my soul?

Do you descend to reveal to me
The divine mystery of worlds?
[The]1 secrets hidden in the sphere
Where day goes to call you forth?

Are you a secret intelligence
Here to address the unhappy?
Do you come at night to shine on them
Like a ray of hope?

Do you come to unveil the future
To the tired heart which pleads with you?
Divine ray, are you the dawn
of the day which will not end?

My heart ignites at this clear light,
I feel unknown transports,
I dream of those who are no longer;
Gentle light, are you their soul?

Perhaps these happy spirits
Glide thus to these woody groves
Enveloped with their image,
I believe I feel nearer to them!

Ah, if it is you, beloved ghosts!
Far from the crowd and far from the noise,
Return then every night
And mingle with my reveries.

Bring back peace and love
To the breast of my exhausted soul,
Like the dewy night
Which descends after the fires of day.

Come !...but funereal mists
Mount the edges of the horizon:
They veil the sweet ray,
And everything returns to darkness.