To Those Who Dream of Monarchy

by Brett Rutherford

Translated and adapted from Victor Hugo, l’Annee Terrible, “February 1871”

I am in a republic, and for a king I have myself.
Know that this supreme right is not put to the vote;
Listen carefully, gentlemen, and be certain that France
will not be conjured away like some everyday business.
We, children of Paris, cousins of the Greeks of Athens,
     we know how to mock and strike.
We have in our veins not the blood of fellahs
(those millennial serfs along the banks of the Nile)
nor the blood of slaves, but good Gallic and French blood.
We have the soldiers of the first Napoleon for fathers
     and the Franks for ancestors.
Remember this: we are the masters.
Liberty never spoke to us in vain.
Remember also that our hands, having broken kings,
     can break thighs.

Good, just go ahead. Appoint yourselves prefects,
     ambassadors, ministers,
and say a polite merçi to one another.
O rascals, gorge yourselves. Have no other concern,
in these royal homes which you make your lairs,
than to harden your hearts and round your bellies;
fill yourself with pride, vanity, money. Good.
Come on. We will show an indulgent contempt,
we will turn away and let you do it;
man cannot hasten the hour that God postpones.
So be it. But do not let your puppet-play infringe
     upon the rights of the entire people.

The law at the bedrock of hearts, free, indomitable,
and haughty, still lives, watches your every step, judges you,
challenges you, and awaits you. I affirm and I assure you
that were you so bold to touch, even for a moment
      just try and see what happen!
Kings, thieves! you have pockets big enough
to put within them all the gold of the country,
the offerings of the poor, the whole state’s budget,
the sack of all our millions,
but to put our rights and our honor
in that dark hole of greed and avarice,
     never!

You will never shut away the great Republic there.
On one side a whole people; and on the other a clique!
What is your divine right compared to human right?
We vote today, we will vote tomorrow.
The sovereign is us; we want, all together,
to reign as we please, to choose whomever we please,
to appoint whomever suits us on our ticket.
Beware who puts their claw upon the ballot boxes!
Beware of those who seek to falsify the vote!
We would make them dance such a gavotte,
with instruments we’d make just for that purpose,
that they would still be pale a decade later!