Serenade of a greybeard | Jane, while kissing you tell me

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by David Wyatt

Jeanne, en te baisant tu me dis

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Jeanne, en te baisant tu me dis
Que j'ai le chef à demi gris,
Et toujours me baisant tu veux
De l'ongle ôter mes blancs cheveux,
Comme s'un cheveux blanc ou noir
Sur le baiser avait pouvoir.
Mais Jeanne tu te trompes fort :
Un cheveu blanc est assez fort
Au seul baiser, pourvu que point
Tu ne veuilles de l'autre poinct.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• J. Leguerney

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Text Authorship:

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

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-06-02
Line count: 10
Word count: 63

Serenade of a greybeard

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Language: English after the French (Français)

Jane, while kissing you tell me
That my head is half grey
And still kissing you try
To pull out my white hairs with your fingernails
As if white or dark hair could
Have power over a kiss.
But Jane, you are completely mistaken:
White hair is pretty good
For kissing alone, provided that
You aren't after some other point.

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Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2012 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.
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Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title
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This text was added to the website: 2012-06-06
Line count: 10
Word count: 62