"Bel éphèbe au front mat, candide amoureux pur, Irridiant de sa chair en clarté rose et blonde..."

Autograph manuscript of a youthful poem signed by Abel Gance, comprising twenty-four stanzas in alexandrines written when he was 20 years old, 32 lines written in black ink on a torn sheet from a school notebook.
Manuscript note by Abel Gance at the beginning and end of the poem: "A false idea can have such arguments that reason can only combat them to the detriment of the reasoner's feelings". Composed in Paris this October 3rd in 2 hours following a reading of Dédé a novel by Essbach" (sic), (actually Achille Essebac).
Fold marks inherent to envelope insertion, one black ink deletion in the lower left corner of the sheet.
Beautiful poem inspired by Achille Essebac's great homosexual novel: "Dédé" published in 1901 by Ambert.
"Beautiful ephebe with matte brow, candid pure lover,
Radiating from his flesh in rosy and blonde clarity
An intoxicating network of profound voluptuousness;
In your sensual turmoil nothing impure germinates...
...
Among these seduced eyes drinking from your eyes,
Have you not noticed, dressed in simple serge,
Haloed in blonde, a humble and gentle virgin
Who, since your beauty, no longer gazes at the heavens?"


Influenced by John Keats, Charles Baudelaire, and Arthur Rimbaud, Abel Gance, then in Brussels pursuing a career in theatre, stops his poetic activity judging his production too impersonal and returns disheartened to Paris.