L'Art d'être grand-père ("The Art of Being a Grandfather") is a substantial book of poems by Victor Hugo, published in 1877.
On 13 March 1871, Hugo's 44-year-old son Charles died of a stroke while riding in a carriage to a farewell dinner for some of Victor's friends at a restaurant in Bordeaux.
The poems describe the feelings of a grandfather entrusted with innocent young children.
Love and tenderness are celebrated, discipline is discounted; the freshness and laughter of the young soften the potential bleakness of old age.
The English version by Timothy Adès is How to be a Grandfather, Hearing Eye, London 2002.