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Las ! je [n'eusse]1 jamais pensé, Dame qui causes ma langueur, De voir ainsi recompensé Mon service d'une rigueur, Et [qu'en]2 lieu de me secourir Ta cruauté m'eust fait mourir. Si, [bien accort]3, j'eusse apperceu, Quand je te vy premierement Le mal que [j'ay depuis]4 recue Pour [aimer]5 trop loyalement, Mon cœur, qui franc avoit vescu, N'eust pas esté [si tost]6 vaincu. Mais tu fis promettre à tes yeux, Qui seuls me vindrent decevoir, De me donner encore mieux Que mon cœur n'esperoit avoir ; Puis, comme jaloux de mon bien, Ont transformé mon aise en rien. Si tost que je vis leur beauté, Amour me força d'un desir D'assujettir ma [loyauté]7 Sous l'empire de leur plaisir, [Et]8 decocha de leur regard Contre mon cœur le premier dard. Ce fut, Dame, ton bel accueil Qui, pour me faire bien-heureux, M'ouvrit par la clef de ton œil Le paradis des amoureux, Et, fait esclave en si beau lieu, D'un home je devins un dieu. Si bien que, n'estant plus à moy, Mais à l'œil qui m'avoit blesse, Mon cœur en gage de ma foy A mon vainqueur j'ai delaissé, Où serf si doucement il est Qu'autre liberté [luy desplaist]9 ; Et, bien qu'il souffre jours et nuits Mainte amoureuse adversité, Le plus cruel de ses ennuis Luy semble une felicité, Et ne sçauroit jamais vouloir Qu'un autre œil le face douloir. Un grand rocher qui a le doz Et les pieds tousjours outragez, Ores des vents, ores des flots, Contre les rives enragez, N'est point si ferme que mon cœur Sous l'orage d'une rigueur : Car luy, de plus en plus aimant Les beaux yeux qui l'ont en-reté, Semble du tout au diamant, Qui, pour garder sa fermeté, Se rompt plustost sous le marteau Que se voir tailler de nouveau. Ainsi ne l'or qui peut tenter, Ny grace, beauté, ny maintien, Ne sçauroit dans mon cœur enter [entrer?] Un autre portrait que le tien, Et plustost il mourroit d'ennuy, Que d'en souffrir un autre en luy. Il ne faut donc, pour empescher Qu'une autre dame en ait sa part, L'environner d'un grand rocher, Ou d'une fosse, ou d'un rampart : Amour te l'a si bien conquis, Que plus il ne peut estre acquis. Chanson, les estoilles seront La nuict sans les cieux allumer, Et plustost les vents cesseront De tempester dessus la mer, Que de ses yeux la cruauté Puisse amoindrir ma loyauté.
J. Castro sets stanzas 1-2
J. Chardavoine sets stanzas 1-7, 12
G. Costeley sets stanzas 1-2
F. Caietain sets stanzas 1-7
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Tiersot: "n'aurais"; further changes may exist not shown above.
2 Chardavoine: "qu'au"
3 Costeley: "fortuné"
4 Costeley: "depuis j'ay"
5 Chardavoine, la Grotte: "t'aimer"
6 Chardavoine: "ainsi"
7 la Grotte: "liberté"
8 Chardavoine: "Lors"
9 la Grotte: "ne luy plaist"
Authorship:
- by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), "Las ! je n'eusse jamais pensé" [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 Fabrice-Marin Caietain (flourished 1570-1578), "Las ! je n'eusse jamais pensé", stanzas 1-7. [text verified 1 time]
- by Jean de Castro (c1540 - c1600), "Las ! je n'eusse jamais pensé", stanzas 1-2. [text verified 1 time]
- by Jean Chardavoine (c1537 - c1580), "Las ! je n'eusse jamais pensé", stanzas 1-7,12. [text verified 1 time]
- by Guillaume Costeley (1530 - 1606), "Las ! je n'eusse jamais pensé", stanzas 1-2. [text verified 1 time]
- by Nicholas La Grotte , "Las ! je n'eusse jamais pensé" [text verified 1 time]
- by Julien Tiersot (1857 - 1936), "Esclavage d'amour", published 1924 [medium voice and piano], from Chansons de Ronsard, no. 9, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel [text not verified]
Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (David Wyatt) , title 1: "Alas, I would never have thought", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: David Wyatt
This text was added to the website: 2012-07-25
Line count: 72
Word count: 402
Alas, I would never have thought O Lady who cause my pining, To see my service recompensed in this way With severity, So that instead of helping me Your cruelty has made me die. If, [all lively]1, I had perceived When first I saw you The ill that I have since received From loving too loyally, My heart, which has lived openly, Would not have been so quickly overcome. But you made a promise with your eyes, Which by themselves had just deceived me, To give me still better Than my heart could have hoped to have; Then, as if jealous of my fortune, They transformed my pleasure into nothing. As soon as I saw their beauty, Love forced me through desire To subject my [loyalty]2 To do what their pleasure demanded, [And]3 he [Love] shot with that look His first dart into my heart. It was, my lady, your fair welcome Which, to make me fortunate, Opened for me, with the key of your eye, The paradise of lovers; Made a slave in so fine a place, From being a man I became a god. So much so that, no longer being mine But belonging to the eye which wounded it My heart I left as pledge Of my fidelity to my conqueror, Where it is so gently in bondage That any other freedom would [displease]4 it; And although it suffers day and night Many a lover's setback, The most cruel of its trials Seems to it bliss, And it could never wish For another's eye to make it unhappy. A great rock, which has its back And feet always exposed Now to the winds, now to the waves Crashing against the banks, Is in no way so firm as my heart Under the storm of your harshness : For as it loves more and more Those fair eyes which have netted it, It seems in every way [like] a diamond, Which to preserve its firmness Would rather be broken under the hammer Than see itself shaped anew. Just so, gold cannot tempt it Nor grace, beauty or bearing; These cannot put into my heart Any other portrait than your own, And it would rather die of its pain Than suffer another's [to be put] in it. It isn't necessary, to stop Another lady having part of it, To fence it round with a great rock Or a moat or a rampart : Love has conquered it so thoroughly for you That it cannot be won again. My song, the stars will Light the night without the heavens, And the winds will stop Storming over the sea, quicker Than the cruelty of your eyes Can lessen my loyalty.
1 Costeley: "more luckily"
2 la Grotte: "freedom"
3 Chardavoine: "Then"
4 la Grotte: "not please"
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.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), "Las ! je n'eusse jamais pensé"
This text was added to the website: 2012-07-25
Line count: 72
Word count: 449