Ode To Victor Hugo (100) 'the Miserable' la Petite Fantine Poem by Freeyad Ibrahim

by Freeyad Ibrahim

Fantine bore the stigma of anonymity and the unknown
Nothing was known of her parents
She was called Fantine, that is because
she had never been called anything else
She could have no family name since she had no family
And no baptismal name since at that time
There had been no church
She was called by the name bestowed on her
by some passerby who had seen her running
barefoot in the streets
And she accepted it as she accepted the raindrops
when they fell
La Petite Fantine -and that was all anyone knew about her.
At fifteen she had gone to Paris ‘to seek her fortune'.
She was beautiful and she had stayed pure as long as she could
A beautiful blonde with fine teeth
Gold and pearls were her dowry
But the gold was on her head
And the pearls were in her mouth
She worked in order to live
And presently fell in love,
Also, in order to live
For the heart, too, has its hunger

FRYAD HUGO
Dutch Writer