Late 19th century American poet Richard Hovey translated many French Symbolist poems; but this sonnet, published in a posthumous collection, is apparently Hovey's own work in French under the title "Au Seuil." Hovey's poem considers dying and the possibility of a judgement and afterlife.
I translated Hovey's French into English for this musical performance. The Parlando Project takes various words (mostly literary poetry) and combines them with original music in different styles. This is the 775th one we've published, and you can hear them all and read about our encounters with the poems at our blog and archives located at frankhudson.org