Etzer Vilaire's Short Paper Long Love

Ethé Villers was born in Jeremy, southwestern Haiti, known as the "City of Poetry". His father, Jean-Baptiste Joseph Villers, was a judge at the city court of Jeremy. Villers received his primary education at his father's home school, and when he was a little older, he went to Saint Martial Academy in Port-au-Prince to continue his studies, but was unable to complete his studies due to his infirmity. Had to go back to Gérémy and continue to study French classical literature and philosophy, as well as law, under the guidance of his father. As an adult, he became a barrister and became a lawyer, holding a key position in the county government of Gérème around 1933. But he also writes poetry in his spare time.

After the magazine "La Ronde" (La Ronde) was launched in 1898, he joined the magazine's literary salon in 1901, where he often wrote poems with Georges Sylvain and Edmund Raffrey.

Throughout his life, he was troubled by the esoteric problems of philosophy. Therefore, his works are also full of words born from this. His works include "Page d'Amour" (Page d'Amour) written in 1897 and "Nouveaux Poèmes" (Nouveaux Poèmes) written in 1910. But since the 1920s, he has rarely written poetry.

Due to the lack of research on Haiti by French literature researchers in Taiwan, there are very few well-known poems by Essie Villers, but the following poem about a long-distance relationship is more famous:

"Loin de toi, c'est la nuit,

C'est la nuit triste et sombre,

Et mon coeur plein d'ennui,

S'ensevelit dans I'ombre.

Loin de toi, tout fléchit,

Mon espoir, mon courage,

Loin de toi, mon esprit,

Se voile d'un nuage.”

Translation:

"The night away from you, how sad and gloomy, my heart is broken, like a shadow. All will wither, hope is no courage; my spirit is far away from you like a cloud."

The full text is short and concise, using the simplest words, deeply expresses the poet's longing for his sweetheart.