Their Lips Came Together

"How did it happen that their lips came together? How does it happen that birds sing, that snow melts, that the rose unfolds, that the dawn whitens behind the stark shapes of trees on the quivering summit of the hill? A kiss, and all was said. "  
                     ~Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

                                                                                          A Rose Unfolds

Victor Hugo wrote that being in love was "having a double light". He believed the world could be transformed by love. The kiss is that silent message between lovers.
     I recently learned that Auguste Rodin and Victor Hugo were friends. It is fitting, therefore,  that one of the most famous statues in the world called "The Kiss" by Rodin shows two lovers who seem oblivious to their surrounding or their nakedness. Their kiss, even more than their embrace, has lasted more than a century.

In 1889, four years after Hugo's death, the French government commissioned Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), the preeminent sculptor of the era, to create a monument to Victor Hugo. Because Rodin had long revered Hugo, this commission took on intense personal significance.

Some of Victor Hugo's poems have been set to music. This "melodie" by Gabriel Faure is called "Mai" [May]