Would to God I'd never nibbled | Would to God I'd never nibbled

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by David Wyatt

Plût‑il à Dieu n'avoir jamais tâté

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Plût-il à Dieu n'avoir jamais tâté
Si follement le tétin de m'amie !
Sans lui vraiment l'autre plus grande envie,
Hélas ! ne m'eût, ne m'eût jamais tenté.

Comme un poisson, pour s'être trop hâté,
Par un appât, suit la fin de sa vie,
Ainsi je vois où la mort me convie,
D'un beau tétin doucement apâté.

Qui eût pensé, que le cruel destin
Eût enfermé sous un si beau tétin
Un si grand feu, pour m'en faire la proie ?

Avisez donc, quel serait le coucher
Entre ses bras, puisqu'un simple toucher
De mille morts, innocent, me froudroie.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• J. Castro • F. Regnard

F. Regnard sets lines 1-4

About the headline (FAQ)

Text as set by Castro:

Pleut-il à Dieu n'avoir jamais taté
  Si follement le tetin de m'amie!
  Sans luy vrayement l'autre plus grand' envie,
  Helas! ne m'eut, ne m'eut jamais tanté.

Qui eut pensée, que le cruel destin
  Eut enfermé sous un si beau tetin
  Un si grand feu, pour m'en faire la proie?

Avisés donc, quel seroit le coucher
  Entre ses bras, puis qu'un simple toucher
  De mille mors, innocent, me foudroie.

Text Authorship:

by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), appears in Les Amours (1553), no. 1, first published 1553 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Jean de Castro (c1540 - c1600), "Pleut-il à Dieu n'avoir jamais taté" [sung text checked 1 time]
by François Regnard (c1530 - c1600), "Plût-il à Dieu n'avoir jamais tâté", lines 1-4 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Alexander Utendal (1543?5 - 1581), "Plût-il à Dieu n'avoir jamais tâté" [sung text checked 1 time]

Set in a modified version by Anthoine de Bertrand, Guillaume Boni.

Go to the text. [ view differences ] ENG

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 96

Would to God I'd never nibbled

Language: English after the French (Français)

Would to God I'd never nibbled
So madly my lady's nipple!
Without it truly the other still greater desire
Would never, alas, would never have tempted me.

Like a fish, which too hasty
For the bait hurries to the end of its life,
So I see where death takes me
Sweetly baited by that lovely nipple.

Who would have thought that cruel fate
Would have enclosed beneath so lovely a nipple
So great a fire to make me its prey?

Beware, then, what will happen when lying
In her arms, since one little touch
Obliterates me, innocent as I am, with a thousand deaths.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2012 by David Wyatt, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), appears in Les Amours (1553), no. 1, first published 1553
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2012-06-23
Line count: 14
Word count: 104