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It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Gustave Lasnon de La Renaudière (1812 - 1862)
Translation © by Dana Zenobi

La Luciole
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Voyez la Luciole,
Voyez comme elle vole,
En précédant ses soeurs.
Où va-t-elle? où va-t-elle?
Poser son étincelle
Sur l'herbe ou sur les fleurs.

Sur la fleur rose et blanche,
Suspendue à la branche
De l'arbuste odorant;
Sur l'herbe verdoyante,
Pour narguer la méchante!
Le pauvre ver luisant...

Dis-moi, mouche brillante,
Serais tu l'ame errante
D'un amant malheureux?
Où serais-tu quelque âme
Qui concentra la flamme
Qu'on doit brûler pour deux?

As-tu plaisir ou peine?
Est-ce un ange qui mène
tes ailes dans la nuit?
Ou quelque démon sombre
S'éclaire-t-il, dans l'ombre,
De ton fanal qui luit?

Non, non, tu dois être heureuse
Ô mouche lumineuse,
Fille des nuits d'été,
Car ta vie éphémère
Me semble un doux mystère
D'amour et de beauté.

Text Authorship:

  • by Gustave Lasnon de La Renaudière (1812 - 1862) [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 Pauline Viardot-García (1821 - 1910), "La Luciole", published 1850 [ voice and piano ], from 10 Mélodies, no. 9 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Dana Zenobi) , "The firefly", copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-12-31
Line count: 30
Word count: 123

The firefly
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
Just look at the firefly, 
See how she flies, 
Leading her sisters. 
Where did she go? Where did she go? 
Ask her little spark 
On the grass or on the flowers. 

On the flower of pink and white, 
Suspended on the branch 
Of the fragrant foliage; 
On the verdant grass, 
Just to taunt the naughty one! 
The poor glow worm... 

Tell me, shining fly, 
Are you perhaps the wandering soul 
Of an unhappy lover? 
Or are you a soul of sorts 
In whom resides a flame so intense 
That it must burn for two? 

Are you a messenger of pleasure or of pain? 
Is it an angel who brings you 
Your wings in the night? 
Or is it some dark demon 
Who ignites, in the darkness, 
Your lamp which shines? 

No, no, you must be joyful, 
O luminous fly, 
Daughter of the nights of summer, 
For your brief life
Seems to me a sweet mystery
Of love and of beauty. 

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2021 by Dana Zenobi, (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 French (Français) by Gustave Lasnon de La Renaudière (1812 - 1862)
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2021-10-09
Line count: 30
Word count: 160

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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