Valaisian Quatrains

Translations © by Grant Hicks

Song Cycle by Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974)

View original-language texts alone: Quatrains Valaisans

1. Pays, arrêté à mi‑chemin
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Pays, arrêté à mi-chemin
entre la terre et les cieux,
aux voies d'eau et d'airain,
doux et dur, jeune et vieux,

comme une offrande levée
vers d'accueillantes mains :
beau pays, achevé,
chaud comme le pain !

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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
1. Land, arrested midway
Language: English 
Land, arrested midway 
between the earth and the heavens, 
with voices1 of water and bronze, 
soft and hard, young and old, 

like an offering raised 
towards welcoming hands: 
beautiful, perfect land, 
as warm as bread!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Grant Hicks, (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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1 Milhaud: "ways"


This text was added to the website: 2016-07-09
Line count: 8
Word count: 36

Translation © by Grant Hicks
2. Rose de lumière un mur qui s'effrite
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Rose de lumière, un mur qui s'effrite, --
mais, sur la pente de la colline
cette fêlure qui, haute hésite
dans son geste de Proserpine. 

Beaucoup d’ombre entre sans doute 
dans la sève de cette vigne ; 
et ce trop de clarté qui trépigne 
au-dessus d’elle, trompe la route.

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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
2.
Language: English 
Rose of light, a crumbling wall,
but, on the slope of the hill, 
that [flower]1 which, up high, 
hesitates in its Persephonean gesture. 

Doubtless much shade makes its way 
into the sap of that vineyard, 
and the surfeit of light that beats down 
upon it deceives the path.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2015 by Grant Hicks, (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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1 Milhaud: "crack"


This text was added to the website: 2016-07-09
Line count: 8
Word count: 49

Translation © by Grant Hicks
3. L'année tourne autour du pivot
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
L’année tourne autour du pivot 
de la constance paysanne ; 
la Vierge et sainte Anne 
disent chacune leur mot. 

D’autres paroles s’ajoutent 
plus anciennes encor, — 
elles bénissent toutes 
et de la terre sort 

cette verdure soumise 
qui, par un long effort, 
donne la grappe prise 
entre nous et les morts.

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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
3. The Year Turns on the Pivot
Language: English 
The year turns on the pivot 
of peasant steadfastness; 
the Virgin and Saint Anne 
each speak their word. 

Other words join in, 
still more ancient, — 
they all bring blessing 
and from the earth springs 

that dutiful greenery 
which, through long effort, 
produces the cluster caught 
between us and the dead.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Grant Hicks, (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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This text was added to the website: 2016-07-09
Line count: 12
Word count: 51

Translation © by Grant Hicks
4. Chemins qui ne mènent nulle part entre deux prés
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Chemins qui ne mènent nulle part 
entre deux prés, 
que l’on dirait avec art 
de leur but détournés, 

chemins qui souvent n’ont 
devant eux rien d’autre en face 
que le pur espace 
et la saison.

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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
4.
Language: English 
Paths that lead nowhere 
between two meadows, 
artfully, one might say, 
diverted from their goal, 

paths that often have 
before them nothing other 
than pure space 
and the season.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Grant Hicks, (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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This text was added to the website: 2016-07-09
Line count: 8
Word count: 29

Translation © by Grant Hicks
5. Beau papillon, près du sol
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Beau papillon près du sol 
 ...  
montrant les enluminures 
de son livre de vol. 

Un autre se ferme au bord 
de la fleur qu’on respire : — 
ce n’est pas le moment de lire. 
Et tant d’autres encor, 

de menus bleus, s’éparpillent, 
flottants et voletants, 
comme de bleues brindilles 
d’une lettre d’amour au vent, 

d’une lettre déchirée 
qu’on était en train de faire 
pendant que la destinataire 
hésitait à l’entrée.

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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
5.
Language: English 
Beautiful butterfly near the ground 
[to an attentive Nature]1 
displaying the illuminations 
of its book of flight. 

Another closes up on the edge 
of the flower one is smelling:
this is no time for reading. 
And so many others beside, 

tiny blues, scatter, 
floating and fluttering, 
like blue scraps 
from a love letter in the wind, 

from a torn-up letter 
that one was writing 
even as the addressee 
hesitated at the door.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Grant Hicks, (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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View original text (without footnotes)
1 omitted by Milhaud.


This text was added to the website: 2016-07-09
Line count: 16
Word count: 73

Translation © by Grant Hicks