A quotation from Victor Hugo
He is asleep. Though his mettle was sorely tried,
He lived, and when he lost his angel, died.
It happened calmly, on its own,
The way night comes when day is done.
[Il dort. Quoique le sort fût pour lui bien étrange,
Il vivait. Il mourut quand il n’eut plus son ange,
La chose simplement d’elle-même arriva,
Comme la nuit se fait lorsque le jour s’en va.]
Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Part 5 “Jean Valjean,” Book 9 “Supreme Shadow, Surpreme Dawn,” ch. 6 (5.9.6) (1862) [tr. Wilbour/Fahnestock/MacAfee (1987)]
Sourcing, notes, other translations: wist.info/hugo-victor/78309/
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