Ode To Victor Hugo (31) the Miserable (Devil In Paradise, saint In Hell) Poem by Freeyad Ibrahim

Devil in the Paradise or Saint in the Hell

Which ever way he turned
he faced the same alternatives:
To cling to his Paradise and become a devil
Or become a saint by going back to hell.

He was lurching physically as well as spritually
Like an infant walking for the first time

One thing alone was plain to him
Whether he turned right or left,
the end was a sepulcre.

He strove in torment like Jesus
The mysterious being in whom
were embodied all the saintliness
and suffering of mankind.
Yelding to that misterious power
that said to him: reflect, take up thy cross.

To return to Jean valjean life,
the felon in appearnce,
is to escape from it in reality.
He felt the presence of the bishop
more urgent than in life.
Other men would see the mask
But the bishop the soul.

It was his melancholy destiny
that he could achieve sanctity
in the eyes of God
only by returning to degradation
In the eyes of man.

Freyad Hugo
Heerenveen
August,2021