A single rose is all the roses

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by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Une rose seule, c'est toutes les roses

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Une rose seule, c'est toutes les roses
et celle-ci : l'irremplaçable,
le parfait, le souple vocable
encadré par le texte des choses.

Comment jamais dire sans elle
ce que furent nos espérances,
et les tendres intermittences
dans la partance continuelle.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, appears in Poèmes français, in 3. Les Roses, no. 6, first published 1927 [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 Jean Hans August Daetwyler (1907 - 1994), "Une seule rose" [ mixed chorus ], from Plumes Valaisannes, no. , Éditions musicales Henry Labatiaz [sung text not yet checked]
by Riccardo Malipiero (1914 - 2003), "Une rose seule, c'est toutes les roses", 1951, published 1953 [ voice and piano ], from Sette variazioni su Les roses di R. M. Rilke , Milano : S. Zerboni [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-01-19
Line count: 8
Word count: 39

A single rose is all the roses

Language: English after the French (Français)

A single rose is all the roses
and this one: the irreplaceable,
the perfect, the supple word
framed by the text of things.

Without it, how can we ever speak 
of what our hopes were,
and of the tender irregularities 
in our continual departure.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Une rose seule, c'est toutes les roses" = "A Single Rose Is All the Roses"
"Une seule rose" = "A Single Rose"

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 Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926), no title, appears in Poèmes français, in 3. Les Roses, no. 6, first published 1927
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-08-25
Line count: 8
Word count: 44