Genièvres hérissés, et vous, houx...

Genièvres hérissés, et vous, houx épineux
L'un hôte des déserts, et l'autre d'un bocage ;
Lierre, le tapis d'un bel antre sauvage,
Sources qui bouillonnez d'un surgeon sablonneux ;
Pigeons qui vous baisez d'un baiser savoureux
Tourtres qui lamentez d'un éternel veuvage.
Rossignols ramagers qui d'un plaisant langage
Nuit et jour rechantez vos versets amoureux ;
Vous, à la gorge rouge, étrangère arondelle.
Si vous voyez [aller ma Nymphe]1 en ce printemps
Pour cueillir des bouquets par cette herbe nouvelle,
Dites-lui pour néant que sa grâce j'attends,
Et que, pour ne souffrir le mal que j'ai pour elle,
J'ai mieux aimé mourir que languir si longtemps.

Translation(s): ENG ENG

List of language codes

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship

• by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title [ author's text checked 1 time]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

• by Robert Caby (1905 - 1992), "Genièvres hérissés, et vous houx épineux", 1956. [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Elisabeth Claisse (flourished 1922-1923), "Complainte", 1923, published [1923] [high voice and piano], Paris, Édition B. Roudanez [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Jacques Leguerney (1906 - 1997), "Genièvres hérissés", 1943, published 1950 [voice and piano], from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Vol. I, no. 2, Editions Salabert [ sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (David Wyatt) , "Bristling junipers", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Humbert Wolfe) , no title, first published 1934

Text added to the website: 2011-06-01 00:00:00.

Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:04:24

Line count: 14
Word count: 106

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You bristling junipers and hollies...

You bristling junipers and hollies spined,
one friend to deserts, the others of the grove,
ivy that doth the woodland altar bind,
springs that shine upward from the sandy cove,
pigeons in murmurous kisses sweetly twined,
turtles that mourn their lost eternal love,
nightingales in the bright language of your kind
who night and day to amorous descant move,
and you, with breast of crimson, migrant swallow,
if you should see my lady walk in spring
by the fresh lawns to gather flowers, say
that all delight too long delayed is hollow,
and rather than endure such suffering
through all these years, I'd put the world away.

About the headline (FAQ)

Authorship

• by Humbert Wolfe (1885 - 1940), no title, first published 1934 [ author's text checked 1 time]

• a text in French (Français) by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title
• This text was set to music by the following composer(s): Robert Caby, Elisabeth Claisse, Jacques Leguerney. Go to the text.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

[ None yet in the database ]

Text added to the website: 2012-11-05 00:00:00.

Last modified: 2014-06-16 10:05:05

Line count: 14
Word count: 107