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by Alexandre Dumas, fils (1824 - 1895)
Translation © by Laura Prichard

Marguerite gentille
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
[Marguerite]1 gentille,
  Sur qui brille
Un matin seulement
La goutte de rosée
  Déposée
Par Phœbus, ton amant ;

Ma belle Pâquerette,
  Si coquette,
Penchant sur le sillon
Ta charmante corolle,
  D'où s'envole
Quelque blanc papillon!

Sais-tu, pauvre petite
  Marguerite,
Quel sort te fait le ciel ?
Avant que ta corbeille,
  À l'abeille
Ait donné tout son miel ;

Avant que le jour passe 
  Et s'efface 
Sous le souffle du soir, 
Que le soleil s'endorme 
  Et déforme
Son disque au couchant noir ;

Avant cette heure vague 
  Où la vague 
Chante son hymne à Dieu ; 
Avant l'heure du voile
  Où l'étoile 
Argente le ciel bleu ;

Avant que tu te fanes
  Des profanes
Par ici passeront,
Foulant d'un pas alerte
  L'herbe verte
Où se cache ton front ;

Ou l'on te peut, pauvrette, 
  A la fête, 
Cueillir aux champs troublés 
Pour quelque jeune fille 
  Dont l'œeil brille 
Et qu'on suit dans les blés ; 

Ou tu verras, peut-être,
  Apparaître
Là-bas, près du buisson,
Quelque vieille glaneuse,
  Moissonneuse
[Qui cherche]2 sa moisson ;

Qui pour faire sa gerbe 
  Fauche l'herbe 
Du moissonneur lassé ;
Hélas ! sa faux qui passe, 
  Fleur, efface
Tout ce qu'il a laissé ! 

Peut-être une fillette,
  Inquiète 
De son amant, viendra,
Disant : Mon âme doute ; 
  Mais j'écoute 
Ce que la fleur dira. 

Eh bien quand l'amoureuse 
  Et peureuse, 
Et riant à la fois,
Ô fleur ! t'aura fait lire 
  Et lui dire 
L'avenir sous ses doigts, 

Ajoute encor : Les feuilles 
  Que tu cueilles 
Promettent ; mais son cœur 
Effeuillera ton âme,
  Pauvre femme,
Ainsi que toi ma fleur. 

Il faut que toute chose,
  Fille ou rose,
Soit brisée à son tour :
A l'une c'est la feuille
  Que l'on cueille,
A l'autre, c'est l'amour !

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   C. Gounod 

C. Gounod sets stanzas 1-3, 6, 8, 13

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Péchés de Jeunesse par Alexandre Dumas fils, Paris, Fellens et Dufour, 1847, pages 25-31.

1 Gounod: "Pâquerette"
2 Gounod: "Récoltant"

Text Authorship:

  • by Alexandre Dumas, fils (1824 - 1895), "Les conseils a la marguerite", written 1840, appears in Péchés de jeunesse [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 Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893), "La pâquerette", CG. 420 (1870), published 1871, stanzas 1-3,6,8,13 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Laura Prichard) , copyright © 2016, (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: 78
Word count: 275

Kind daisy
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
Kind daisy,
On whom gleams
For only one morning,
A drop of dew
Deposited
By Phoebus, your lover!

My beautiful daisy
So coquettish
Leaning over the earth,
Your charming outermost petal,
From where takes flight,
Some white butterfly!

Do you know, poor little
daisy,
What heaven has in store for you
Before your crown
Gives all its honey
To the honeybee?

[...
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Before you fade
Some people	
Will pass by here,
Trampling with a swift step
The green grass
Where you hide your face!

[...
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Or you’ll see, perhaps,
Appearing,
Over there, near the bush,
Some old lady gleaner,
Or lady harvester	
Gathering in the harvest!

[...
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[...
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[...
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[...
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All living things,
Whether girl or rose,
Must run their course,
For one, it’s the leaf
That is lost,
For the other it’s love!

About the headline (FAQ)

Translation of title "La pâquerette" = "The daisy"

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 Alexandre Dumas, fils (1824 - 1895), "Les conseils a la marguerite", written 1840, appears in Péchés de jeunesse
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2016-10-04
Line count: 78
Word count: 128

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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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