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Ah ! je vous pri', mes yeux, soyez-moi si courtois De me fournir de pleurs, n'épargnez la fontaine Qui ne tarit jamais de l'humeur de ma peine, Soyez-m'en libéraux, au moins a cette fois ! Je sens une douleur qui m'étoupe la voix, Qui me glace le sang et retient mon haleine ; Je vois déjà la mort cruelle qui me mène Où les simples bergers sont grands comme les rois. Cette douleur me vient d'une jalouse envie Que j'ai de voir, absent, les grâces de ma vie Avant que de mourir, et de baiser encor L'ivoire blanchissant de sa chaste poitrine, De voir ses yeux, sa main et sa marche divine, Puis, en baisant, mourir dessus ses lèvres d'or.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Les chefs-d'vre lyriques de Pierre de Ronsard et de son école, ed. by Auguste Dorchain, Paris, A. Perche, pages 88-89.
Text Authorship:
- by Rémy Belleau (1527/8 - 1577), no title, appears in La bergerie, in Baisers, no. 3 [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 André-Marie Cuvelier (d. 1947), "Ah ! Je vous pri', mes yeux", 1940 [ medium voice and piano ], from Chansons pour Hélène, 8ème recueil, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (David Wyatt) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2016-05-27
Line count: 14
Word count: 117
Ah, my eyes, I beg you, be so kind As to provide me with tears, don’t spare the fountain Which never runs out of water for my pain: And be liberal with them, at least this time. I feel a sadness which stops my voice, Which freezes my blood and stops my breath. I already see cruel death leading me Where simple shepherds are great as kings. That sadness comes to me from a jealous desire I have of seeing, though I’m absent, the Grace of my life Before I die, and of kissing again The white ivory of her chaste bosom, Of seeing her eyes, her hand and her divine way of walking, And then as I’m kissing her of dying under her golden lips.
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- Translation from Middle French to English copyright © 2017 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 Middle French by Rémy Belleau (1527/8 - 1577), no title, appears in La bergerie, in Baisers, no. 3
This text was added to the website: 2017-06-10
Line count: 14
Word count: 126