by
Louis Marie Julien Viaud (1850 - 1923), as Pierre Loti
Jean, lui, tous les jours flânait et...
Language: French (Français)
Jean, lui, tous les jours flânait et songeait,
avec une vague tristesse,
visible pour la première fois
dans ses yeux perdus par instants
et dans son allure un peu ralentie.
Dans le jardin à l'abandon,
envahi par la poussée des chrysanthèmes
et des asters d'automne,
il demeurait enfermé, des heures,
entre les murs peuplés de lézards,
tandis que les oranges jaunissaient au soleil d'octobre.
Avec l'été allait finir son enfance ;
avec la splendeur de ce soleil,
déjà déclinant et mélancolique,
allait s'enfuir son passé d'insouciance heureuse ;
et il sentait cela douloureusement,
avec une impression inconnue de regret et d'effroi.
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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, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Jean-Pierre Granger) , title 1: "Sadness", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Jean-Pierre Granger
This text was added to the website: 2009-06-10
Line count: 17
Word count: 99
Sadness
Language: English after the French (Français)
Everyday, John wandered and was dreaming,
With a faint sadness,
That we could see for the first time
In his sometimes lost eyes
And his somewhat slack demeanour.
In the garden left to itself,
Invaded by the bloom of chrysanthemum
And of the autumn aster,
He stayed for hours, confined
between the walls populated with lizards,
While the oranges were turning yellow under the October sun.
With the end of Summer his childhood would end.
With the glittering sun,
Already declining and melancholy,
Would flee his past of carefree hapiness;
And he felt that painfully,
With an unknown impression of regret and fear.
The translator has released this translation into the public domain.
Text Authorship:
Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2010-10-21
Line count: 17
Word count: 103
