by
Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor
La passion de Siva
Language: French (Français)
Siva survivra seul, un soir, à tous les Dieux :
Leurs têtes, ce soir-là, pareront sa poitrine,
Et, la paix du néant souriant dans ses yeux,
Siva se chantera sa passion divine :
« J’étais, aux temps passés, l’âme de l’univers,
J’étais le jour, j’étais la nuit, j’étais l’aurore,
J’étais le printemps clair, les étés, les hivers,
L’immense vie ardente, et l’Amour qui dévore.
« Illusoire splendeur, j’habitais mon palais,
Ainsi que l’araignée au centre de ses toiles :
Les âmes tour à tour tombaient dans mes filets,
Et j’ai fait dans mon sein s’éteindre les étoiles.
« Oh ! les morts, dormez donc et rêvez dans ma nuit,
En attendant qu’un jour je vous laisse renaître,
Si j’ai besoin encor de lumière et de bruit,
Pour de nouveau combler l’abîme de mon être :
« Car l’abîme est profond et mon cœur plein d’ennui,
Et seul dans l’infini, debout, sombre, livide,
Je pense qu’autrefois mon sein comme aujourd’hui
Portait le ciel entier et restait toujours vide. »
Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor: L'Illusion, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1925, Pages 221-222.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "The Passion of Shiva", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Grant Hicks
[Guest Editor] , Joost van der Linden
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2025-03-28
Line count: 20
Word count: 163
The Passion of Shiva
Language: English after the French (Français)
Shiva alone, one evening, will outlive all the gods:
On that evening, their heads will adorn his chest,
And, the peace of nothingness smiling in his eyes,
Shiva will sing to himself of his divine passion:
"I was, in times past, the soul of the universe,
I was the day, I was the night, I was the dawn,
I was the bright springtime, summers, winters,
Vast ardent life, and ravenous Love.
"Illusory splendor, I lived in my palace,
Like the spider at the center of her web:
Souls, one after another, fell into my toils,
And in my breast I extinguished the stars.
"Sleep then, O you dead, and dream in my night,
Waiting for me to let you be reborn some day,
If I have need again of light and sound,
To once more fill the abyss of my being:
"For the abyss is deep and my heart filled with boredom,
And alone in infinity, erect, somber, pallid,
I reflect that once my breast, as it does today,
Supported the whole sky and remained ever empty."
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "La passion de Siva", subtitle: "Siva, Dieu de la mort, est beau comme une femme.", appears in L'Illusion, in 3. La gloire du néant
This text was added to the website: 2025-05-24
Line count: 20
Word count: 177
