by
Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
How cruel are the parents
Language: English
Available translation(s): FRE
How cruel are the parents
Who riches only prize,
And to the wealthy booby
Poor woman sacrifice !
Meanwhile the hapless daughter
Has but a choice of strife :
To shun a tyrant father's hate,
Become a wretched wife !
The rav'ning hawk pursuing,
The trembling dove thus flies :
To shun [impending]1 ruin
A while her pinions tries;
'Till of escape despairing,
No shelter or retreat,
She trusts the ruthless falconer,
And drops beneath his feet.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)
Confirmed with
The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 281.
1 Beethoven: "impelling" (?)
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):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Ó, rodičové krutí"
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Comme les parents sont cruels", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Georg Pertz) , "Kalt ist der Eltern Busen"
Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani
This text was added to the website: 2006-01-11
Line count: 16
Word count: 77
Comme les parents sont cruels
Language: French (Français)  after the English
Comme les parents sont cruels,
Qui estiment seulement les richesses,
Et pour l'opulent nigaud
Le sacrifice des pauvres femmes !
Pendant ce temps leur fille malchanceuse
N'a d'autre choix que de lutter
Pour éviter la haine d'un père tyrannique,
Ou devenir une épouse misérable.
Le faucon rapace poursuit
La colombe tremblante qui vole ainsi :
Pour éviter une ruine imminente,
Elle essaye un instant ses ailes ;
Au désespoir de pouvoir s'échapper,
De trouver abri ou retraite,
Elle fait enfin confiance au cruel fauconnier
Et tombe sous son pied.
Authorship:
- Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2014 by Pierre Mathé, (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:
- a text in English by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "How cruel are the parents"
This text was added to the website: 2014-07-13
Line count: 16
Word count: 89