Un gars de Shropshire

Song Cycle by George Sainton Kaye Butterworth (1885 - 1916)

View original-language texts alone: Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad

1. Loveliest of trees  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English 
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.

Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy [springs]1 a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.

And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the [woodlands]2 I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

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1 Manton: "years"
2 Steele: "woodland"

by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)
1. Le plus charmant des arbres
Language: French (Français) 
A présent le plus charmant des arbres, le cerisier,
Aux branches couvertes de fleurs,
Il est sur le chemin du bois,
Tout en blanc pour Pâques.

De mes soixante dix ans alloués,
Mes vingt ans ne viendront pas deux fois,
Otons vingt ans de soixante-dix,
Il ne reste que cinquante ans à vivre.1

Contempler ce qui fleurit,
Prend peu de temps sur cinquante ans,
Et donc j’irai aux bois,
Voir le cerisier couvert de neige.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2018 by Patricia Dillard Eguchi, (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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Translations of title(s):
"The cherry hung with snow" = "Le cerisier couvert de neige"
"Loveliest of trees" = "Le plus charmant des arbres"
"Youth" = "La jeunesse"
"The cherry tree" = "Le cerisier"
"Loveliest of trees, the cherry now" = "A présent le plus charmant des arbres, le cerisier"

1 Soixante dix ans : en anglais « threescore and ten » ; l’origine de cette expression est dans la Bible, Psaume 90. L’humain n’est alloué que 70 ans à vivre.

This text was added to the website: 2018-08-21
Line count: 12
Word count: 76

Translation © by Patricia Dillard Eguchi
2. When I was one‑and‑twenty  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: English 
When I was one-and-twenty
 I heard [a wise man]1 say,
"Give crowns and pounds and guineas
 But not your heart away;
Give pearls away and rubies
 But keep your fancy free."
But I was one-and-twenty,
 No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty
 I heard him say again,
"The heart out of the bosom
 Was never given in vain;
'Tis paid with sighs a plenty
 And sold for endless rue."
And I am two-and-twenty,
 And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

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1 Steele: "an old man"

by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)
2.
Language: French (Français) 
Quand j’avais vingt-et-un an,
J’entendis un vieil homme dire :
« Donne des couronnes, tes livres et tes guinées,1
Mais pas ton cœur,
Donne perles et rubis,
Mais garde ta volonté libre »
Mais j’avais vingt-et-un ans,
Inutile de me parler.

Quand j’avais vingt-et-un ans,
Je l’entendis ajouter,
« Le cœur une fois donné,
N’est jamais donné en vain.
Il est payé avec bien des soupirs,
Et vendu avec des regrets infinis. »
Et j’ai vingt-deux ans,
Et comme c’est vrai, trop vrai.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2018 by Patricia Dillard Eguchi, (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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Translations of title(s):
"Heart wounds" = "Plaies du cœur"
"When I was one and twenty" = "Quand j’avais vingt-et-un ans"

1 Pièces de monnaie anglaises

This text was added to the website: 2018-08-21
Line count: 16
Word count: 83

Translation © by Patricia Dillard Eguchi
3. Look not in my eyes
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
Look not in my eyes, for fear
  They mirror true the sight I see,
And there you find your face too clear
  And love it and be lost like me.
One the long nights through must lie
  Spent in star-defeated sighs,
But why should you as well as I
  Perish? Gaze not in my eyes.

A Grecian lad, as I hear tell,
  One that many loved in vain,
Looked into a forest well
  And never looked away again.
There, when the turf in springtime flowers,
  With downward eye and gazes sad,
Stands amid the glancing showers
  A jonquil, not a Grecian lad.

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by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)
3. Ne me regarde pas dans les yeux
Language: French (Français) 
Ne me regarde pas dans les yeux, de crainte
Qu’ils ne soient le miroir de ce que je vois,
Et d’y trouver ton visage trop clairement,
Et de l’aimer et d’être perdu, comme moi.
Tu passerais de longues nuits, étendu,
A soupirer parce que ta bonne étoile t’abandonne,
Mais pourquoi devrais-tu, comme moi,
Périr ? Ne me regarde pas dans les yeux.

Un jeune homme grec, j’ai entendu dire,
Que beaucoup aimaient en vain,
Regarda dans un puit de forêt,
Et puis ne regarda jamais plus.
Là où l’herbe fleurit au printemps,
Les yeux baissés et le regard triste,
Il est debout sous les averses,
Un narcisse et non plus un jeune homme grec.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2018 by Patricia Dillard Eguchi, (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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Translations of title(s):
"Ladslove" = "L'amour d'un gars"
"Look not in my eyes" = "Ne me regarde pas dans les yeux"
"Look not in my eyes, for fear" = "Ne me regarde pas dans les yeux, de crainte"



This text was added to the website: 2018-08-21
Line count: 16
Word count: 113

Translation © by Patricia Dillard Eguchi
4. Think no more, lad
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
Think no more, lad; laugh, be jolly;
Why should men make haste to die?
Empty heads and tongues a-talking
Make the rough road easy walking,
And the feather pate of folly
Bears the falling sky.

Oh, 'tis jesting, dancing, drinking
Spins the heavy world around.
If young hearts were not so clever,
Oh, they would be young for ever;
Think no more; 'tis only thinking
Lays lads underground.

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by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)
4. Ne pense plus, mon gars
Language: French (Français) 
Ne pense plus, mon gars ; sois joyeux ;
Les hommes devraient-ils se hâter vers leur mort ?
Têtes creuses et langues bavardes,
C’est le chapeau de la folie
Qui parle de mort.

O, plaisanter, danser, boire,
Cela fait tourner le lourd monde sur lui-même ;
Si les jeunes cœurs n’étaient pas si malins,
Ils demeureraient jeunes à jamais ;
Ne pense plus ; c’est en pensant
Que les jeunes gars finissent sous terre.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2018 by Patricia Dillard Eguchi, (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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Translations of title(s):
"Disillusion" = "La désillusion"
"Think no more, lad" = "Ne pense plus, mon gars"
"Think no more, lad; laugh, be jolly" = "Ne pense plus, mon gars ; sois joyeux "



This text was added to the website: 2018-08-21
Line count: 11
Word count: 68

Translation © by Patricia Dillard Eguchi
5. The lads in their hundreds
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
The lads in their hundreds to Ludlow come in for the fair,
  There's men from the barn and the forge and the mill and the fold,
The lads for the girls and the lads for the liquor are there,
  And there with the rest are the lads that will never be old.

There's chaps from the town and the field and the till and the cart,
  And many to count are the stalwart, and many the brave,
And many the handsome of face and the handsome of heart,
  And few that will carry their looks or their truth to the grave.

I wish one could know them, I wish there were tokens to tell
  The fortunate fellows that now you can never discern;
And then one could talk with them friendly and wish them farewell
  And watch them depart on the way that they will not return.

But now you may stare as you like and there's nothing to scan;
  And brushing your elbow unguessed-at and not to be told
They carry back bright to the coiner the mintage of man,
  The lads that will die in their glory and never be old.

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by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)
5. Des gars par centaines
Language: French (Français) 
Des gars par centaines viennent à Ludlow pour la foire,
Des hommes de la grange et de la forge, et de l’usine et de l’étable,
Des gars venus pour les filles, et des gars venus pour boire
Et, avec eux, il y a ces gars qui ne vieilliront jamais.   

Il y a des types de la ville et des champs, du labour et de la charrue,
Parmi eux, nombreux sont vigoureux et nombreux sont braves,
Et nombreux sont beaux de visage et de cœur,
Et peu conserveront leur beauté et leur rectitude au tombeau.

Je voudrais pouvoir les reconnaître, je voudrais des indices pour dire
Ceux que le sort désigne et qu’on ne peut pas discerner ;
Et alors on parlerait amicalement et on leur dirait adieu,
Les regardant partir sur cette route dans ils ne reviendront pas.

Mais on peut regarder autant qu’on veut et il n’y a rien à dire,
Ils passent près de vous sans être devinés et sans rien savoir,
Ils rapportent à Dieu leur brillante valeur d’homme,
Ces gars qui, dans leur gloire, ne vieilliront jamais.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2018 by Patricia Dillard Eguchi, (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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Translations of title(s):
"Ludlow Fair" = "La foire de Ludlow"
"The lads in their hundreds to Ludlow come in for the fair" = "Des gars par centaines viennent à Ludlow pour la foire"
"The lads in their hundreds" = "Des gars par centaines"



This text was added to the website: 2018-08-21
Line count: 16
Word count: 180

Translation © by Patricia Dillard Eguchi
6. Is my team ploughing
 (Sung text)
Language: English 
"Is my team ploughing,
That I was used to drive
And hear the harness jingle
When I was man alive?"

Ay, the horses trample,
The harness jingles now;
No change though you lie under
The land you used to plough.

"Is football playing
Along the river-shore,
With lads to chase the leather,
Now I stand up no more?"

Ay, the ball is flying,
The lads play heart and soul;
The goal stands up, the keeper
Stands up to keep the goal. 

"Is my girl happy,
That I thought hard to leave,
And has she tired of weeping
As she lies down at eve?"

Ay, she lies down lightly,
She lies not down to weep:
Your girl is well contented.
Be still, my lad, and sleep.

"Is my friend hearty,
Now I am thin and pine,
And has he found to sleep in
A better bed than mine?"

Yes, lad, I lie easy,
I lie as lads would choose;
I cheer a dead man's sweetheart,
Never ask me whose.

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by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)
6. Mon attelage laboure-t-il ?
Language: French (Français) 
Mon attelage laboure t-il,
Que j’avais l’habitude de mener,
Entendant les grelots des harnais,
Alors que j’étais vivant ?

Oui, les chevaux piétinent,
Les grelots des harnais tintent, 
Rien n’a changé bien que tu reposes,
Sous la terre que tu labourais.

Joue-t-on au football,
Le long de la rivière, 
Avec des gars pour pousser le ballon,
Alors que je ne suis plus là ?

Oui, le ballon vole,
Les gars jouent de tout leur cœur,
Le but est dressé, son gardien
Debout pour le garder.

Ma bien-aimée est-elle heureuse,
Qu’il m’était si dur de quitter, 
Et s’est-elle lassée de pleurer,
Quand elle s’allonge la nuit ?

Oui, elle s’allonge sans souci,
Elle ne se repose pas pour pleurer,
Ta bien-aimée est contente,
Sois tranquille, mon gars, et dors.

Et mon meilleur ami est-il joyeux,
Maintenant que je suis maigre et que je me languis,
Et a t-il trouvé pour y dormir,
Un meilleur lit que le mien ?

Oui mon gars, je m’y repose heureux,
Je m’y repose comme tous le voudraient ;
Je réconforte la bien-aimée d’un mort,
Ne me demande pas de qui.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2018 by Patricia Dillard Eguchi, (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: 2018-08-21
Line count: 32
Word count: 180

Translation © by Patricia Dillard Eguchi