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It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

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by Robert Graves (1895 - 1985)
Translation © by Guy Laffaille

In the wilderness
Language: English 
Our translations:  FRE
[He,]1 of his gentleness,
Thirsting and hungering
Walked in the Wilderness;
Soft words of grace he spoke
Unto lost desert-folk
That listned wondering.
He heard the bittern call
From ruined palace-wall,
Answered him brotherly;
He held communion
With the she-pelican
Of lonely piety.
Basilisk, cockatrice,
Flocked to his homilies,
With mail of dread device,
With monstrous barbed stings,
With eager dragon-eyes;
Great bats on leathern wings
And old, blind, broken things
Mean in their miseries.
Then ever with him went,
Of all his wanderings
Comrade, with ragged coat,
Gaunt ribs -- poor innocent --
Bleeding foot, burning throat,
The guileless young scapegoat;
For forty nights and days
Followed in Jesus' ways,
Sure guard behind him kept,
Tears like a lover wept.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   E. Bainton 

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Bainton: "Christ"

Text Authorship:

  • by Robert Graves (1895 - 1985), "In the wilderness", appears in Over the Brazier, first published 1916 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Edgar Leslie Bainton (1880 - 1956), "In the wilderness", published 1928. [SATB chorus a cappella] [
     text verified 1 time
    ]
  • by Samuel Barber (1910 - 1981), "In the wilderness", op. 41 no. 3, published 1969 [high voice and piano], from Despite and still, no. 3. [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , title 1: "Dans le désert", copyright © 2015, (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: 30
Word count: 120

Dans le désert
Language: French (Français)  after the English 
Lui, plein de bonté,
Ayant soif et faim,
Marchait dans le désert ;
Avec des mots doux pleins de grâce il parlait
Au peuple perdu du désert
Qui l'écoutait émerveillé.
Il entendit l'appel du butor
Des murs du palais en ruine,
L'interrogeant fraternellement ;
Il fut en communion
Avec la femelle pélican
D'une piété solitaire.
Basilic, coquatrix,
Affluèrent à ses homélies,
Avec des écailles d'aspect horrible,
Avec des épines monstrueusement aiguës
Avec des yeux avides de dragon ;
De grandes chauve-souris sur des ailes de cuir
Et des créatures vieilles et aveugles
Misérables dans leurs malheurs.
Et toujours avec lui allait,
Dans toutes ses marches,
Un compagnon, avec un manteau en haillons,
Les côtes décharnées -- pauvre innocent --
Les pieds en sang, la gorge brûlante,
Jeune et candide bouc émissaire ;
Pendant quarante nuits et quarante jours
Il suivit Jésus dans ses pérégrinations,
Il resta en garde sûr derrière lui,
Il versa des larmes comme un amant.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2015 by Guy Laffaille, (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.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in English by Robert Graves (1895 - 1985), "In the wilderness", appears in Over the Brazier, first published 1916
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2015-06-04
Line count: 30
Word count: 152

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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