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Je pleure les lèvres fanées Où les baisers ne sont pas nés Et les désirs abandonnés Sous les tristesses moissonnées. Toujours la pluie à l'horizon ! Toujours la neige sur les grèves, Tandis qu'au seuil clos de mes rêves, Des loups couchés sur le gazon Observent en mon âme lasse Les yeux ternis dans le passé, Tout le sang autrefois versé Des agneaux mourants sur la glace. Seule la lune éclaire enfin De sa tristesse monotone Où gèle l'herbe de l'automne, Mes désirs malades de faim.
First published in Parnasse de la Jeune Belgique, Paris, éd. L. Vanier, 1887, p. 220, and then in 1889 in Serres chaudes.
Text Authorship:
- by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 - 1949), "Désirs d'hiver", appears in Serres chaudes, Paris, Éd. Léon Vanier [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 Jean Absil (1893 - 1974), "Désirs d'hiver", op. 12 no. 4 (1933), published 1962 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Quatre poèmes de Maeterlinck, no. 4, Bruxelles, Éd. CéBeDeM [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joseph Béesau (1871 - 1940), "Désirs d’hiver", published 1920 [ high voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, no. 16, Paris, Senart [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jean-Émile-Paul Cras (1879 - 1932), "Désirs d'hiver" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by René Doire (1879 - 1959), "Désirs d'hiver" [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Luís de Freitas Branco (1890 - 1955), "Désirs d'Hiver", 1913, published 1997 [ medium voice and piano ], from Canções Francesas - Serres chaudes, Ciclo Maeterlinckiano, no. 1, Éd. Musicoteca Lisboa [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alberto Nepomuceno (1864 - 1920), "Désirs d'hiver", 1894 [ voice and piano ], Rio de Janeiro: Vieira Machado [sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by D. Fridberg ; composed by Boris Vasilyevich Karagichev.
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
- Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CHI Chinese (中文) (Dr Huaixing Wang) , "冬天的意愿", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "Winter desires", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- POR Portuguese (Português) (Anonymous/Unidentified Artist)
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2010-07-18
Line count: 16
Word count: 85
I weep for faded lips on which kisses are not born and desires abandoned under harvested sadness. Always rain on the horizon! Always snow on the beaches, while at the closed threshold of my dreams there are wolves lying down on the lawn which observe in my weary soul the eyes clouded in the past, and all the formerly-shed blood of lambs dying on the ice. The moon alone illuminates at last, with her monotonous sadness in which the grass of autumn freezes, my desires which are sick from hunger.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2022 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 - 1949), "Désirs d'hiver", appears in Serres chaudes, Paris, Éd. Léon Vanier
This text was added to the website: 2022-08-24
Line count: 16
Word count: 90