Lassitude
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
Ils ne savent plus où se poser ces baisers,
Ces lèvres sur des yeux aveugles et glacés;
Désormais endormis en leur songe superbe,
Ils regardent rêveurs comme des chiens dans l'herbe,
La foule des brebis grises à l'horizon,
Brouter le clair de lune épars sur le gazon.
Aux caresses du ciel, vague comme leur vie,
Indifférent et sans une flamme d'envie
Pour ces roses de joie écloses sous leurs pas;
Et ce long calme vert qu'ils ne comprennent pas.
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ernest Amédée Chausson (1855 - 1899), "Lassitude", op. 24 no. 3 (1893) [ medium voice and piano ], from Serres Chaudes, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Thomas Oboe Lee (b. 1945), "Lassitude", 2020 [ soprano and piano ], from Chansons de Maeterlinck, no. 3, SMP Press [sung text not yet checked]
- by Carlos López Buchardo (1881 - 1948), "Lassitude", 1915, first performed 1915 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Sophie Huet) , "Lassitude", copyright © 2009, (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: 10
Word count: 79
Lassitude
Language: English  after the French (Français)
They no longer know where to place these kisses,
These lips on icy blind eyes;
Henceforth asleep in their superb wish,
They look at dreamers like dogs in the grass,
The crowd of gray goats on the horizon
Eat the moonlight spread on the lawn.
Indifferent to the sky's caresses, vague like their life,
And lacking the flame of desire
For joyous roses blooming underfoot
And the long green calmness they do not understand.
Authorship:
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2009-04-15
Line count: 10
Word count: 74