Leçons | À moins que j''apprenne à ne pas demander d'aide

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by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933)

Translation © by Pierre Mathé

Lessons

Language: English

Our translations: FRE

Unless I learn to ask no help
     From any other soul but mine,
To seek no strength in waving reeds
     Nor shade beneath a straggling pine;
Unless I learn to look at Grief
     Unshrinking from her tear-blind eyes,
And take from Pleasure fearlessly
     Whatever gifts will make me wise --
Unless I learn these things on earth,
Why was I ever given birth?

Confirmed with Sara Teasdale, Love Songs, New York, The Macmillan Company, 1917, page 49.

Text Authorship:

by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933), "Lessons", appears in Love Songs, in 2. Interlude: Songs out of Sorrow, no. 3, first published 1917 [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 John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "Lessons", 1967 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Songs Out of Sorrow, Six Songs for Mezzo-soprano, no. 3, Southern/Texas [sung text not yet checked]

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

FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Leçons", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-02-13
Line count: 10
Word count: 62

Leçons

Language: French (Français) after the English

À moins que j''apprenne à ne pas demander d'aide
   À une autre âme que la mienne,
À ne pas chercher de force dans les roseaux ondoyants
   Ni d'ombre sous un pin efflanqué ;
À moins que j'apprenne à regarder le Chagrin
   Dilater ses yeux aveuglés par les larmes,
Et sans crainte prendre du Plaisir
   Je ne sais quels cadeaux me faisant sage,
À moins que sur terre j'apprenne ces choses,
Pourquoi fus-je mise au monde ?

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2015 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 English by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933), "Lessons", appears in Love Songs, in 2. Interlude: Songs out of Sorrow, no. 3, first published 1917
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-10-13
Line count: 10
Word count: 74