by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
Translation © by Peter Low

Le Tombeau
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG GER
Quand le ciel et mon heure
jugeront que je meure,
ravi du beau séjour
        du commun jour,
je défends qu'on ne rompe
le marbre pour la pompe
de vouloir mon tombeau
        bâtir plus beau,
mais bien je veux qu'un arbre
m'ombrage en lieu d'un marbre,
arbre qui soit couvert
        tojours de vert.
De moi puisse la terre
engendrer un lierre
m'embrassant en maint tour
        tout à l'entour;
et la vigne tortisse
mon sépulcre embellisse,
Faisant de toutes parts
        un ombre épars.

Text 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 (Peter Low) , "The tomb", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Die Grabstätte", copyright © 2017, (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: 86

The tomb
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
 When Heaven and my appointed time
 decide that I should die
 and be carried off from the fair abode
         of common daylight,
 I forbid that marble
 be cut for the pompous purpose
 of having my tomb
         built more beautiful.
 I wish rather that a tree
 might shade me instead of marble -
 a tree that would be always
         covered in green foliage.
 From my body may the earth
 bring forth an ivy-plant
 embracing me all round
         with many turns;
 and may the twisty vine
 embellish my burial-place,
 creating in all directions
         extended shade.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (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 between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 98