Always | You tell me to hold my silence

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by Charles Jean Grandmougin (1850 - 1930)

Translation © by Michael P Rosewall

Toujours

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT ENG ENG GER SPA

Vous me demandez de me taire,
De fuir loin de vous pour jamais,
Et de m'en aller, solitaire,
Sans me rappeler qui j'aimais!

Demandez plutôt aux étoiles
De tomber dans l'immensité,
À la nuit de perdre ses voiles,
Au jour de perdre sa clarté,

Demandez à la mer immense
De dessécher ses vastes flots,
Et, quand les vents sont en démence,
D'apaiser ses sombres sanglots!

Mais n'espérez pas que mon âme
S'arrache à ses âpres douleurs
Et se dépouille de sa flamme
Comme le printemps de ses fleurs!

Text Authorship:

by Charles Jean Grandmougin (1850 - 1930), written 1874 [author's text not yet checked 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 Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Toujours", op. 21 no. 2 (1878), published 1880, first performed 1881 [ high voice and piano ], from Poëme d'un jour, no. 2, Éd. Durand & Fils [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Sempre", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Always", copyright ©
ENG English (Michael P Rosewall) , "Always", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Nele Gramß) , "Ewig", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Alberto Bonati) , "Siempre", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 88

Always

Language: English after the French (Français)

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You tell me to hold my silence,
To remain apart from you forever,
And to make my own way, alone,
Without ever bringing who I love to mind!

You might as well ask the stars
To fall into the void,
Tell the night to forsake its shades,
The day to abandon its splendor.

Tell the immeasurable ocean
To dry its boundless floods,
And tell the winds, when they are howling,
To cease their melancholy sobbing!

But, do not expect that my soul
Could uproot such bitter sadness
And cast off its flames
As the Springtime does it flowers!

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2018 by Michael P Rosewall, (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 Jean Grandmougin (1850 - 1930), written 1874
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2018-04-10
Line count: 16
Word count: 98