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Tandis que je cueillais un suave baiser des lèvres de mon ami, et que j'aspirais sur sa bouche entr'ouverte le frais parfum de son haleine, mon âme, enivrée, se précipita sur mes lèvres, et, s'insinuant entre les siennes, s'efforçat de m'échapper. Ah! Si la tendre union de nos lèvres eût duré un instant de plus, brûlée des feux de l'amour, mon âme enflammée d'amour passait dans la sienne et m'abandonnait. Ainsi, o merveille! Mort par moi-même, j'aurais continué de vivre dans le sein de mon ami!
Text Authorship:
- by Charles Héguin de Guerle , "La Métempsychose", subtitle: "Imitation de Platon", appears in Œuvres complètes de Pétrone, Paris, Éd. Garnier Frères, first published 1861 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Latin possibly by Petronius (Titus Petronius Niger) (20? - 66) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Louis Durey (1888 - 1979), "La Métempsychose", op. 15 no. 2 (1918), published 1919 [ medium voice and piano ], from Trois Poèmes de Pétrone, no. 2, Édition Durand & Cie [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "Transmigration of the soul", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website: 2003-12-02
Line count: 9
Word count: 86
While I was receiving a sweet kiss from my lover’s lips and inhaling from his half-open mouth the fresh scent of his breath, my soul, intoxicated, rushed up to my lips, and sneaked between his, trying escape from me. Ah, if the tender union of our lips had lasted an instant longer, my soul, burnt by love’s fires, aflame with love, would have passed into his soul and left me. Thus, oh miracle, dead by my own doing, I would have lived on in the breast of my lover!
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2017 by Peter Low, (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 Charles Héguin de Guerle , "La Métempsychose", subtitle: "Imitation de Platon", appears in Œuvres complètes de Pétrone, Paris, Éd. Garnier Frères, first published 1861
Based on:
- a text in Latin possibly by Petronius (Titus Petronius Niger) (20? - 66) [text unavailable]
This text was added to the website: 2017-08-02
Line count: 9
Word count: 89