Dans l'immense tristesse
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
Dans l'immense tristesse et dans le lourd silence,
Un pas se fait entendre, une forme s'avance,
Et vers une humble tombe elle vient se pencher
O femme, en ce lieu saint, que viens-tu donc chercher.
Pourquoi viens-tu troubler la paix du cimetière ?
As-tu donc un trésor caché sous quelque pierre,
Ou viens-tu mendier, à l'ombre des tombeaux,
Pauvre vivante, aux morts, un peu de leur repos ?
Non, rien de tout cela jusqu'ici ne l'amène,
(La lune en cet instant éclairait cette scène,)
Et ce que cette femme, (hélas ! le cœur se fend,)
Ce que cette femme vient chercher, c'est un frêle et gracieux enfant,
Qui dort sur cette tombe, et qui, dans sa chimère,
Depuis qu'il a vu là disparaître sa mère,
Doux être ! s'imagine en son naïf espoir
Qu'elle n'est que cachée et qu'il va la revoir.
Et l'on dirait, le soir, en vision secrète,
Lorsque le blond enfant sent s'alourdir sa tête,
Et que sa petite âme est lasse de gémir,
Que sa mère revient chanter pour l'endormir.
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Korin Kormick) , "In the Immense Sadness", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 174
In the Immense Sadness
Language: English  after the French (Français)
In the immense sadness and in the heavy silence,
A step makes itself heard, a form advances,
And towards a humble tomb she comes to lean over;
O, woman, in this holy place, what do you come to seek?
Why do you come to disturb the peace of the cemetery?
Do you have a treasure hidden under some stone,
Or do you come to beg, in the shadow of the tombs,
Poor living woman, from the dead, a bit of their rest?
No, none of that brings her here,
(The moon at that moment illuminated this scene,)
And what this woman, (Alas! The heart breaks,)
What this woman comes to seek is a frail and graceful child,
Who sleeps on this grave, and who, in his fallacy,
Since it was there that he saw his mother disappear,
(Sweet being!) imagines in his naïve hope
That she is only hidden and that he will see her again.
And they say that at night in a secret vision,
When the blond child feels his head grow heavy,
And his little soul is weary of sighing,
His mother returns to sing him to sleep.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2004 by Korin Kormick, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2004-10-19
Line count: 20
Word count: 191