I want her in that shadowy light

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by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Je la désire dans cette ombreuse lumière

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Je la désire dans cette ombreuse lumière
qui tombe avec midi sur la dormante treille,
quand la poule a pondu son œuf dans la poussière.
Par dessus les liens où la lessive sèche,
je la verrai surgir, et sa figure claire.
Elle dira : je sens des pavots dans mes yeux.
Et sa chambre sera prête pour son sommeil,
et elle y entrera comme fait une abeille
dans la cellule nue que blanchit la chaleur.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• D. Milhaud

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 1, first published 1906 [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 Michel Bosc (b. 1963), "Je la désire", 1999 [ high voice, flute, and piano ], from Tristesses, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974), "Je la désire dans cette ombreuse lumière", op. 355 no. 2 (1956), published 1957 [ baritone and piano ], from Tristesses, no. 2, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2014-07-12
Line count: 9
Word count: 74

I want her in that shadowy light

Language: English after the French (Français)

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I want her in that shadowy light 
that falls with midday on the drowsing trellis,
when the hen has laid her egg in the dust.
Above the lines where the laundry is drying,
I will see her appear, and her shining face.
She will say, "I feel poppies in my eyes," 
and her room will be ready for her sleep,
and she will go in, as a bee goes 
into its bare cell whitened by the heat.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Je la désire" = "I want her"
"Je la désire dans cette ombreuse lumière" = "I want her in that shadowy light"

Note for line 6, "poppies": a metaphor for sleep. One French term for the opium poppy is pavot somnifère, literally "sleep-bringing poppy."

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (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 Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 1, first published 1906
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-06-23
Line count: 9
Word count: 77