She had gone down to the bottom of the meadow | She had gone down to the bottom of the meadow

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by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938)

Translation © by Faith J. Cormier

Elle était descendue au bas de la...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG SPA

Elle était descendue au bas de la prairie,
et, comme la prairie était toute fleurie
de plantes dont la tige aime à pousser dans l'eau,
ces plantes inondées je les avais cueillies.
Bientôt, s'étant mouillée, elle gagna le haut
de cette prairie-là qui était toute fleurie.
Elle riait et s'ébrouait avec la grâce
dégingandée qu'ont les jeunes filles trop grandes.
Elle avait le regard qu'ont les fleurs de lavande.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• L. Boulanger • D. Milhaud

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 2, 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), "Elle était descendue", 1999 [ high voice, flute, and piano ], from Tristesses, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Lili Boulanger (1893 - 1918), "Elle était descendue au bas de la prairie", 1914, published 1919 [ high voice and piano or orchestra ], from Clairières dans le ciel, no. 1, Ricordi [sung text checked 1 time]
by Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974), "Elle était descendue au bas de la prairie", op. 355 no. 3 (1956), published 1957 [ baritone and piano ], from Tristesses, no. 3, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "She had gone down to the bottom of the meadow", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 9
Word count: 69

She had gone down to the bottom of the meadow

Language: English after the French (Français)

Add this translation to the Basket

She had gone down to the bottom of the meadow, 
and because the meadow was full of flowers 
that like to grow in the water, 
I had gathered the drowned plants. 
Soon, because she was wet, she came back to the top 
of that flowery meadow. 
She laughed and moved with the lanky grace 
of girls who are too tall. 
She looked the way lavender flowers do.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Faith J. Cormier, (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), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 2, first published 1906
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2004-01-27
Line count: 9
Word count: 67