DUMAS ALEXANDRE: Fils (1824-1895) A rare 24 verses autograph poem

DUMAS ALEXANDRE: Fils (1824-1895) A rare 24 verses autograph poem

DUMAS ALEXANDRE: Fils (1824-1895) French Author and Dramatist. Rare autograph poem in the hand of Dumas, A.L.S., `A. Dumas fils´, one page, 8vo, Nohant, 2nd August 1861, to Madame Gressin, in French. Dumas cleanly pens a 24 verses poem in alexandrines, with an octosyllable one on the second verse of each strophe. The theme is the figure of the inaccessible poet, like the gazelle, like the tree on a mountain, or "the aged heart where no flower can bloom". Dumas writes his poem without title, although few years later he published it for the first time under the title "Vers écrits sur un album" ("Verses written on an album"). The poem states in part `...Je calcine les monts et j´aveugle et je tue - Et je dépasse tout; Je suis lancé par Dieu! - Eh bien, je te trompais, je suis l´arbre élevé - sur une si haute montagne - qu´hélas la solitude est ma seule compagne - et que jamais à moi, l´oiseau n´est arrivé - Que m´importe! Je vais où ne va pas l´oiseau... Je suis la triste nuit qui n´aura point d´aurore - Et je n´attends plus rien de l´avenir pali - Aussi je ne viens pas vers toi de l´avenir - Je suis cette douce pensée - Que le coeur le plus dur n´a jamais repoussée - Ouvre moi donc tes bras - Je suis le souvenir´. The poem is incribed by Dumas to the lower left corner, stating `autographe donné à Mme Gressin à Nohant, on August 2nd 1861´. With blank integal leaf. VG

The present poem was first published in 1866, five years later than the poem was written on the present document, on the journal Le Moniteur de la Mode, and it was published under the title "Vers écrits sur un album" ("Verses written on an album"). Much later, in 1893, it was published again, in the Magazine La Lecture, but this time under the title Le Souvenir ("The Souvenir")