The Forsaken Woman | Ah! I did not know that it could be sweet to me

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by Augustine-Malvina Souville Blanchecotte (1830 - 1878)

Translation © by Korin Kormick

Oh ! je ne savais pas qu'il pouvait...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

[Oh]¹ ! je ne savais pas qu'il pouvait m'être doux
  Après tant de jours de misère,
De me ressouvenir et de parler de vous
  Comme un sœur ferait d'un frère.

Tout nous a séparés et tout nous réunit,
  Ma pensée est votre pensée ;
Un sentiment de paix que rien ne définit
  Vient visiter la délaissée !

Nous sommes aimés et nous aimons encor,
  C'est là le meilleur de nous-mêmes !
Et quels que soient les coups dont nous frappe le sort,
  Je t'aime, et je sais que tu m'aimes !

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• R. Hahn

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Augustine-Malvina Souville Blanchecotte, Les Militantes, Poésies, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, 1875, page 64.

¹ Hahn: "Ah"

Text Authorship:

by Augustine-Malvina Souville Blanchecotte (1830 - 1878), no title, appears in Les Militantes, Poésies, in 1. Combats, no. 34 [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 Reynaldo Hahn (1874 - 1947), "La délaissée", published 1898 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies - 2ème volume, no. 3, Paris, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]

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

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 87

The Forsaken Woman

Language: English after the French (Français)

Ah!  I did not know that it could be sweet to me,
After so many days of misery,
To remember you again and speak of you
As a sister would of a brother!

Everything separated us and everything [now] reunites us,
My thought is your thought...
A feeling of peace that nothing defines
Comes to visit the forsaken one!

We are loved and we love again,
That is the best of ourselves...
And whatever blows are dealt to us by fate,
I love you and I know that you love me!

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2004 by Korin Kormick, (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 Augustine-Malvina Souville Blanchecotte (1830 - 1878), no title, appears in Les Militantes, Poésies, in 1. Combats, no. 34
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2004-10-08
Line count: 12
Word count: 91