It’s dear to me, my love, the blindfold | It is dear to me, my love: the blindfold

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by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907)

Translation © by Laura Prichard

Il m'est cher, Amour, le bandeau

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT DUT ENG GER

        Fulcite me floribus.

Il m'est cher, Amour, le bandeau
Qui me tient les paupières closes ;
Il pèse comme un doux fardeau
De soleil sur de faibles roses.

Si j'avance, l'étrange chose !
Je parais marcher sur les eaux ;
Mes pieds trop lourds où je les pose,
S'enfoncent comme en des anneaux.

Qui donc a délié dans l'ombre
Le faix d'or de mes longs cheveux ?
Toute ceinte d'étreintes sombres,
Je plonge en des vagues de feu.

Mes lèvres où mon âme chante,
Toute d'extase et de baiser
S'ouvrent comme une fleur ardente
Au-dessus d'un fleuve embrasé.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with van Lerberghe, Charles, Entrevisions, suivi de Poèmes posthumes, Paris, G. Crès, 1923, pages 83-84.

Text Authorship:

by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1898, appears in Entrevisions, in 2. Le jardin clos, no. 1, Bruxelles, Éd. Lacomblez, first published 1898 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Il m'est cher, Amour, le bandeau", op. 106 no. 7 (1914), published 1915 [ medium voice and piano ], from Le jardin clos, no. 7, Paris, Éd. Durand & Cie. [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "M’és cara, Amor, la bena", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Pieter van der Woel) , "De liefde, de band, is me kostbaar", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "It’s dear to me, my love, the blindfold", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Teuer ist mir das Band, Geliebter", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Didier Pelat

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 17
Word count: 95

It’s dear to me, my love, the blindfold

Language: English after the French (Français)

    Fulcite me floribus.

It is dear to me, my love: the blindfold
That holds my eyelids closed;
It weighs like the sweet burden
Of sun on delicate roses.

If I advance, how strange!
I seem to walk on water;
My too-heavy feet, wherever I step
Sink as if into rings.

Then who has untied, in the shade,
The golden weight of my long tresses?
Completely enveloped by dark embraces,
I plunge into waves of fire.

My lips, where my soul sings
Completely of extasy and kisses,
Open themselves like an ardent flower
Above a flaming river.

Translator's note: The quote in line 1, "Fulcite me floribus", means "Surround me with flowers" and comes from the Song of Solomon 2:5 (from the Latin Vulgate).

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Prichard, (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 French (Français) by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), no title, written 1898, appears in Entrevisions, in 2. Le jardin clos, no. 1, Bruxelles, Éd. Lacomblez, first published 1898
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-02-08
Line count: 17
Word count: 97