Le tombeau

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.

Translation(s): ENG GER

List of language codes

Submitted by Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Authorship

• by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585) [ 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 Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963), "Le tombeau", FP. 38 no. 2 (1924), from Poèmes de Ronsard, no. 2. [ sung text verified 1 time]

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

• ENG English (Peter Low) , title 1: "The tomb", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , title 1: "Die Grabstätte", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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The tomb

 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.

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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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• a text in French (Français) by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585) GER
• This text was set to music by the following composer(s): Francis Poulenc. Go to the text.

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.