THE CEMETERY

If there exists within us a divine element,
For it the same law leads to the same end.
We become Gods when we are decomposed;
And for man, death is an apotheosis elevation to divine status.
Thus this unity appears again before our eyes;
And if we can only see it in the heavens,
Here, in this decree, its image is present.
Who would not even see a benevolent hand here?
Man reads his sentence from his first moments,
So that, like a new Levite a member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi, responsible for temple duties and sacrifices, he may meditate for a long time,
In this sacred book, on the laws of sacrifice,
And learn at what price they became favorable.
These laws, in the animal, have nothing to revive;
The animal is ignorant of its death; it does not know how to love.
What then would this eloquent image be for it,
Whose use it is not permitted to understand?
But you, mortal, you who, under various features,
Have read this unity in man and the universe;
And can touch nothing that does not reveal it to you,
How can you justify your criminal error?
In your vast projects, in your noble efforts,
Your thought is always the idol of your body;
It is always to the spirit of the world that you sacrifice yourself;
You go about everywhere showing Gods and Genii tutelary spirits or minor deities,
Consecrating every object; every day; every place;
And finally divinizing everything, except God.

I approach at this moment the funerary temple:
Oh! dead, console me in my bitter sadness;
I can only confide my sorrows to you alone.
Unhappy humans would not believe me,
If I depicted their deep wounds to them.
Wholly given to their disdain, wholly given to their murmurs,