Viens, cherchons cette ombre propice

Viens, [cherchons]1 [cette]2 ombre propice,
Jusqu'à l'heure où de ce séjour
Les fleurs fermeront leur calice
Aux regards languissants du jour.
Voilà ton ciel, ô mon étoile !
Soulève, oh ! soulève ce voile :
Éclaire la nuit de ces lieux ;
Parle, chante, rêve, soupire,
Pourvu que mon regard attire
Un regard errant de tes yeux.

Laisse-moi parsemer de roses
La tendre mousse où tu t'assieds,
Et près du lit où tu reposes
Laisse-moi m'asseoir à tes pieds.
Heureux le gazon que tu foules,
Et le bouton dont tu déroules
Sous tes doigts les fraîches couleurs !
Heureuses ces coupes vermeilles
Que pressent tes lèvres, pareilles
À l'abeille, amante des fleurs !

Si l'onde des lis que tu cueilles
Roule les calices flétris ;
Des tiges que ta bouche effeuille
Si le vent m'apporte un débris ;
Si sa bouche qui se dénoue
Vient, en ondulant sur ma joue,
De ma lèvre effleurer le bord ;
Si ton souffle léger résonne,
Je sens sur mon front qui frissonne
Passer les ailes de la mort.

Souviens-toi de l'heure bénie
Où les dieux, d'une tendre main,
Te répandirent sur ma vie
Comme l'ombre sur la chemin.
Depuis cette heure fortunée,
Ma vie à ta vie enchaînée,
Qui s'écoule comme un seul jour,
Est une coupe toujours pleine, 
Où mes lèvres à longue haleine
Puisent l'innocence et l'amour.

Translation(s): ENG

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About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Œuvres complètes de Lamartine, Tome 1, Paris, chez l'auteur, 1860, pages 478-479.

See also Comme l'ombre sur le chemin by F. Aubin

Authorship

• by Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine (1790 - 1869), no title, appears in Nouvelles méditations poétiques, in 3. Chant d'Amour, no. 9 [ 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 Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893), "Rêverie", CG. 504 (1849). [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893), "Chant d'amour", op. CG. 504a (1868). [voice and orchestra] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Ernest Lavigne (1851 - 1909), "Chant d'amour", stanzas 1-2,4. [ sung text checked 1 time]
• by Alfred Lebeau (1835 - 1906), "Confidence", published 1869, stanzas 1-2,4. [ sung text checked 1 time]

• by Edouard Lalo (1823 - 1892), "Viens!", published 1880 [voice and piano], title in German: "Komm" ; Mainz, Schott
  • Go to the full setting text.
    

Set in a modified version by Georges Bizet.

• Go to the text. [ view differences ]
  

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

• ENG English [singable] (Samuel Byrne) , "Come and seek a nice shady nook"

Text added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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Come and seek a nice shady nook

 Come and seek a nice shady nook, dear,
 Until our brief sojourn has passed;
 The flowers will close up their sweetness
 To the languishing gaze of day.
 Behold thy sky, O star of mine!
 Lift up, Oh lift up this veil!
 And light up the gloom of this place!
 Speak, speak and sing, dream and sigh,
 If only my gaze attracts
 One brief glance, straight from thine eyes!
 
 Let me strew with some lovely flowers
 The tender moss where thou dost sit;
 And close to the bed where thou dost rest
 Let me sit down here at thy feet!
 Happy the greensward that is trod by thee!
 And the small bud that in thy hand
 Has its leaves so fragrant all crushed!
 Happy those pink flowers newly cut
 That press your rosy lips just like
 A flower that's wooed by a bee!

 [...




    ...



  ... ]
 
 Remember the brief happy moments
 When the gods with their tender hands
 Poured out gently thy life over mine!
 Like a shadow across the road
 E'er since that day happy day!
 My life to thy life bound secure,
 Whose days pass blissful like one calm dream,
 Is a cup of joy ever full
 Where my lips with a long drawn breath 
 Drink innocence and pure love.

Note: this is from the Lavigne score.

Authorship

• Singable translation by Samuel Byrne (flourished 1889), "Come and seek a nice shady nook" [ author's text checked 1 time]

• a text in French (Français) by Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine (1790 - 1869), no title, appears in Nouvelles méditations poétiques, in 3. Chant d'Amour, no. 9
• This text was set to music by the following composer(s): Charles Gounod, Edouard Lalo, Ernest Lavigne, Alfred Lebeau. 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 between May 1995 and September 2003.