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Je n'emporte avec moi sur la mer sans retour Qu'une rose cueillie à notre long amour. J'ai tout quitté ; mon pas laisse encore sur la grève Empreinte au sable insoucieux sa trace brève Et la mer en montant aura vite effacé Ce vestige incertain qu'y laissa mon passé. Partons ! que l'âpre vent en mes voiles tendues Souffle et m'entraîne loin de la terre perdue Là-bas. Qu'un autre pleure en fuite à l'horizon La tuile rouge encore au toit de sa maison, Là-bas, diminuée et déjà si lointaine ! Qu'il regrette le clos, le champ et la fontaine ! Moi je ferme la porte et je ne pleure pas. Et puissent, si les dieux me mènent au trépas, Les flots m'ensevelir en la tombe que creuse Au voyageur la mer perfide et dangereuse ! Car je mourrai debout comme tu m'auras vu, Sur la proue, au départ, heureux et gai pourvu Que la rose à jamais de mon amour vivant Embaume la tempête et parfume le vent.
Confirmed with Henri de Régnier, Les Médailles d’argile, Paris, Société du Mercure de France, 1903 (4e éd.), pages 102-103.
Text Authorship:
- by Henri Francois-Joseph de Régnier (1864 - 1936), "Le départ", appears in Les Médailles d'Argile, in 4. Médailles marines, no. 6 [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 Albert Roussel (1869 - 1937), "Le départ", op. 3 (Quatre poèmes) no. 1 (1903), published 1921, first performed 1906 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Rouart, Lerolle [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Alice-Marie-Marguerite Sauvrezis (1866 - 1946), "Le Départ", published 1919, Paris : M. Sénart [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Garrett Medlock) , "The departure", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Geoffrey Wieting , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 163
I bring nothing with me, across the sea without return, But a rose picked [in] our long love. I have left everything; my step leaves again on the shore Its brief track imprinted in the untroubled sand And the rising sea will have quickly wiped away This uncertain trace which my past left there. Let us go! let the rough wind blow in my taut sails And pull me far away from the lost land Over there. Let another [mourn] the horizon in flight, The red tile still on the roof of their house, Over there, diminished and already so far off! Let them miss the plot, the field, and the fountain! [As for] me, I close the door and I do not weep. And if the gods lead me to death, May the waters bury me in the tomb which the sea, Treacherous and perilous, digs for the voyager! Since I will die upright as you will have seen me, On the prow, departing, happy and gay, As long as the rose of my living love Forever embalms the tempest and perfumes the wind.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2020 by Garrett Medlock, (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 Henri Francois-Joseph de Régnier (1864 - 1936), "Le départ", appears in Les Médailles d'Argile, in 4. Médailles marines, no. 6
This text was added to the website: 2020-03-30
Line count: 20
Word count: 185