Victor Hugo gib Geoffrey Barto 2003 Contemplations: opening poem - Un jour je vis, debout au bord des flots mouvants four line stanzas thus: 12A/6B/12A/6B One day I saw, standing at the edge of the rising tide Pass, filling its sails, A fast ship enveloped in wind, And waves and stars. And I heard, leaning upon the abyss of the skies, That the other abyss touches, A voice speak into my ear of which my eyes Could not see the mouth: "Poet, you do well! Poet of the sad face, You dream near the waves, And you draw from the seas many things that are Beneath the waves of the deep! The sea is the Lord, that misery or happiness, Shows and names every destiny; The wind is the Lord; the star is the Lord; The ship is man."