Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
If you wish to reprint translations, please use the Reprint Basket (upper right hand corner).
Reminder: You must always use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
Brumes mornes d'hiver, mélancoliquement Et douloureusement, roulez sur mes pensées Et sur mon cœur vos longs linceuls d'enterrement Et de rameaux défunts et de feuilles froissées Et livides, tandis qu'au loin, vers l'horizon, Sous l'ouatement mouillé de la plaine dormante, Parmi les échos sourds et souffreteux, le son D'un angelus lassé se perd et se lamente Encore et va mourir dans le vide du soir, Si seul, si pauvre et si craintif, qu'une corneille, Blottie entre les gros arceaux d'un vieux voussoir, A l'entendre gémir et sangloter, s'éveille Et doucement répond et se plaint à son tour A travers le silence entier que l'heure apporte, Et tout à coup se tait, croyant que dans la tour L'agonie est éteinte et que la cloche est morte.
Confirmed with Emile Verhaeren, Poèmes: Les bords de la route, Les Flamandes, Les moines, Paris: Société du Mercure de France, 1895, pages 10-11.
Text Authorship:
- by Émile Verhaeren (1855 - 1916), "Les brumes", written 1882-94, appears in Poèmes, in 1. Les bords de la route, in 2. Décors tristes, no. 2, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1895 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Albert Dupuis (1877 - 1967), "Les brumes", published 1921 [ high voice and piano ], from Douze mélodies, no. 2, Bruxelles (Brussels), Éd. J.B. Katto, Antoine Ysaye & Co. [sung text not yet checked]
- by Maurice Touchard (1879 - 1956), "Les brumes", 1919, published 1923 [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. Maurice Senart [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "The Mists", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2017-03-04
Line count: 16
Word count: 125
Dreary mists of Winter, melancholy And sorrowful, roll over my thoughts And over my heart your long burial shrouds Of dead branches and leaves crushed And faded, while far off, towards the horizon, Under the damp wadding of the sleeping plain, Amid dull and sickly echoes, the sound Of a weary Angelus fades and wails Once more and dies away in the emptiness of the evening, So lonely, so weak and timid, that a crow, Nestled between the thick arches of an ancient voussoir, Hearing it moan and sob, awakens And softly replies and laments in its turn Across the absolute stillness that the hour brings, And all at once falls silent, believing that in the tower The agony is ended and the bell is dead.
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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Émile Verhaeren (1855 - 1916), "Les brumes", written 1882-94, appears in Poèmes, in 1. Les bords de la route, in 2. Décors tristes, no. 2, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1895
This text was added to the website: 2026-08-16
Line count: 16
Word count: 126