by
Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
Fair Eliza
Language: Scottish (Scots)
Turn again, thou fair Eliza!
Ae kind blink before we part!
Rew on thy despairing luver –
Canst thou break his faithfu' heart?
Turn again, thou fair Eliza!
If to luve thy heart denies,
For pity hide the cruel sentence
Under friendship's kind disguise!
Thee, dear maid, ha'e I offended?
The offence is luving thee.
Can thou wreck his peace for ever,
Wha for thine wad gladly die?
While the life beats in my bosom,
Thou shalt mix in ilka throe.
Turn again, thou lovely maiden,
Ae sweet smile on me bestow!
Not the bee upon the blossom
In the pride o' sinny noon,
Not the little sporting fairy
All beneath the simmer moon,
Not the poet, in the moment
Fancy lightens in his ee,
Kens the pleasure, feels the rapture,
That thy presence gi'es to me.
Confirmed with
The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns, Cambridge edition, Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1897, page 242.
GLOSSARY
Ae = one
Blink = glance
Ilka = every
Sinny = sunny
Kens = knows
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Belle Eliza", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Ferdinando Albeggiani
This text was added to the website: 2013-03-28
Line count: 24
Word count: 137
Belle Eliza
Language: French (Français) after the Scottish (Scots)
Retourne-toi, belle Eliza !
Un tendre regard, avant de se séparer !
Aie pitié de ton amant désespéré,
Peux-tu briser son cœur fidèle ?
Retourne-toi, belle Eliza !
Si ton cœur refuse d'aimer,
Par pitié, cache la cruelle sentence
Sous le déguisement d'une tendre amitié !
Chère fille, t'ai-je offensée ?
L'offense fut de t'aimer.
Peux-tu briser à jamais la paix
De celui qui pour la tienne mourrait avec joie ?
Tant que la vie bat en mon sein
Tu feras partie de chacun de ses élancements.
Retourne-toi, charmante fille,
Accorde-moi un doux sourire !
Ni l'abeille sur la fleur,
Dans la splendeur d'un midi ensoleillé,
Ni la petite fée batifolant
Sous la lune d'été,
Ni le poète au moment
Où l'imagination illumine son œil,
Connaissent le plaisir, ressentent l'extase
Que ta présence me donne.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Scottish (Scots) to French (Français) copyright © 2014 by Pierre Mathé, (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 Scottish (Scots) by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Fair Eliza"
This text was added to the website: 2014-08-05
Line count: 24
Word count: 127
