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Ôtez votre beauté, ôtez votre jeunesse, Ôtez ces rares dons que vous tenez des cieux, Ôtez ce docte esprit, ôtez-moi ces beaux yeux, Cet aller, ce parler digne d'une déesse: Je ne vous serai plus, d'une importune presse, Fâcheux comme je suis; vos dons si précieux Me font, en les voyant, devenir furieux, Et par le désespoir l'âme prend hardiesse. Pour ce, si quelquefois je vous touche la main, Par courroux votre teint n'en doit devenir blême; Je suis [fol]1, ma raison n'obéit plus au frein, Tant je suis agité d'un fureur extrême; Ne prenez, s'il vous plaît, mon offense à dédain; Mais, douce, pardonnez mes fautes à vous-même.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesNote: modernized spelling.
1 Leguerney: "fou"
Text Authorship:
- by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title, appears in Le Premier Livre des Sonnets pour Hélène, no. 31 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Jacques Leguerney (1906 - 1997), "Sonnet pour Hélène", 1949, published 1986 [ baritone and piano ], from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Vol. VI, no. 4, Paris, Max Eschig [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (David Wyatt) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2013-05-25
Line count: 14
Word count: 111
Take off your beauty, take off your youth, Take off those rare gifts that you received from Heaven, Take off that learned mind, take off those fair eyes, That way of walking, of speaking worthy of a goddess; I will no longer be as offensive, as importunately Demanding, as I am; your gifts so precious Make me, as I see them, become mad And through despair my soul gains boldness. So, if sometimes I touch your hand, You should not become pale with anger; I am mad1, my reason no longer obeys the curb, So stirred am I by extreme passion; Do not hold my offence, I beg, to scorn; But, [sweet one]2, pardon my faults towards you.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotes1 note: "fol" and "fou" both can be translated as "mad"
2 or "sweetly"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2014 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, appears in Le Premier Livre des Sonnets pour Hélène, no. 31
This text was added to the website: 2014-01-14
Line count: 14
Word count: 122