by
Auguste Vacquerie (1819 - 1895)
Le Plongeur
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
Le plongeur, sur qui la vague déferle,
m'a crié du fond des flots grondants :
« Contre Maria veux-tu cette perle ?»
Merci, fils ! j'en ai trente-deux : ses dents !
Hier la nuit brodait de soleils ses voiles,
le roi des Gypsis, montrant les cieux, m'a dit :
« Je la veux ! choisis deux étoiles »,
j'ai dit : « J'ai les deux plus belles : ses yeux !»
Elle ément la brute, et l'herbe et la pierre,
le portier du ciel m'a dit : « À mon tour,
prends le paradis !» j'ai dit à St. Pierre :
« J'ai le paradis, puisque j'ai l'amour! »
« Tu fais bien, son ciel n'est guère enviable »,
m'a dit un Seigneur, parlant d'un ton doux ;
prends plutôt l'enfer !» J'ai dit: « Merci, diable !
j'ai l'enfer aussi, car je suis jaloux !»
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 (Amy Pfrimmer) , "The Diver", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2018-09-24
Line count: 16
Word count: 147
The Diver
Language: English  after the French (Français)
The diver, on whom the wave breaks,
shouted to me from the depths of the roaring waves:
“In exchange for Maria do you want this pearl?”
“Thank you, son! I have thirty-two: her teeth!”
Yesterday the night was embroidering its sails with suns,
the king of the Gypsies, pointing to the heavens, said to me:
"I want her! Choose two stars,”
I said: “I have the two most beautiful: Her eyes!”
She refused the brute, and the grass and the stone,
the gatekeeper of heaven said to me:
"It is my turn, take paradise!”
I said to St. Pierre: "I have paradise, since I have love!"
“You choose well, His heaven is hardly enviable,”
said a lord to me, speaking in a gentle tone;
“Take hell instead!” I said, “Thank you, devil!
I have hell too, because I am jealous!”
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Amy Pfrimmer, (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: 2023-06-05
Line count: 16
Word count: 140