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Une bande d’oiseaux s’est abattue sur mon pêcher en fleurs. La gelée de cette nuit n’a donc pas fait assez de ravages ? Les misérables ! Ils se poursuivent de branche en branche. Une pluie de pétales [tombe]1 sur le gazon. Tiens ! Tiens ! Cette neige rose, comme [dans]2 les jardins où se promènent les Immortels... Merci, petits oiseaux turbulents ! Je n’aurai pas beaucoup de pêches, mais sur quel beau tapis je m’étendrai, tout à l’heure !
Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade : poésies chinoises, Paris: H. Piazza, 1926, page 77.
1 Claisse: "tombent"2 omitted by Claisse.
Text Authorship:
- by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "Philosophie", appears in La flûte de jade, Paris, Éd. H. Piazza, first published 1920 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Kheng-Tsin (713 - 734) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Elisabeth Claisse (1902 - 1997), "Philosophie", 1923, published [1923] [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Édition B. Roudanez [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Philosophy", copyright © 2026, (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: 2023-08-18
Line count: 12
Word count: 75
A flock of birds has descended upon my flowering peach tree. Tonight's frost hasn't done enough damage, then? The wretched things! They chase each other from branch to branch. A rain of petals [falls]1 onto the grass. But wait! This pink snow, [as in]2 the gardens where the Immortals walk... Thank you, boisterous little birds! I won't have a lot of peaches, but what a fine carpet I will be stretched out on, in just a moment!
1 Claisse: "fall"
2 Claisse: "like"
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.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "Philosophie", appears in La flûte de jade, Paris, Éd. H. Piazza, first published 1920
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Kheng-Tsin (713 - 734) [text unavailable]
This text was added to the website: 2026-04-24
Line count: 12
Word count: 79