At night, the delights which I purchase by day

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sometimes misattributed to Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585) and by Marc-Claude de Buttet (c1530 - 1586)

Translation © by David Wyatt

De nuict, le bien que de jour je...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

De nuict, le bien que de jour je pourchasse 
M’advient en songe ymage du desir
Car je sens bien ma maitresse gesir
Aupres de moy, nu à nu, face à face.

Doux soupirant coup à coup je me lasse
Sentant mes flans mignardement saisir
Et au doux point je fondz tout en plaisir,
Si doucement la folastre m’embrasse

Par cet yvoyre et ces roses mon ame
En cent douceurs et se pert et se pasme
Sur son tetin du mien apprivoysé

O que de bien de plaisir de merveille
Quand la baisant je me sens rebaisé:
Mourant tout las sur la levre vermeille.

About the headline (FAQ)

View text with all available footnotes

Confirmed with Marc-Claude de Buttet, Amalthée, Sonnet 40, 1561; and P. L. Jacob's 1880 edition.

Text Authorship:

sometimes misattributed to Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
by Marc-Claude de Buttet (c1530 - 1586), no title, appears in Amalthée, first published 1561 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Anthoine de Bertrand (1540? - 1581?), "De nuict, le bien que de jour je pourchasse", published 1578 [ vocal quartet a cappella ], from 25 Chansons à 4 parties, Livre 3, no. 12 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (David Wyatt) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: David Wyatt

This text was added to the website: 2019-10-30
Line count: 14
Word count: 106

At night, the delights which I purchase...

Language: English after the French (Français)

At night, the delights which I purchase by day
Come to me in dreams, reflections of my desire.
For I truly feel my mistress lying
Beside me, naked flesh against naked flesh, face to face.

Sighing softly, little by little I relax
Feeling my body gently stiffen
And at the sweet summit I dissolve in pleasure,
So sweetly my frisky lass embraces me.

O what ivory and what roses! My soul
Loses itself and faints in a hundred sweet ways
On her breast, laid next to mine.

What delight, what pleasure, what wonder
When kissing her I feel myself kissed back,
And die, exhausted, on her ruby lip.

About the headline (FAQ)

View text with all available footnotes

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2019 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) misattributed to Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585) and by Marc-Claude de Buttet (c1530 - 1586), no title, appears in Amalthée, first published 1561
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2019-10-30
Line count: 14
Word count: 109