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Furieuse, les yeux caves et les seins roides, Sapho, que la langueur de son désir irrite, Comme une louve court le long des grèves froides, Elle songe à Phaon, oublieuse [du Rite]1, Et, voyant à ce point ses larmes dédaignées, Arrache ses cheveux immenses par poignées ; Puis elle évoque, en des remords sans accalmies, Ces temps où rayonnait, pure, la jeune gloire De ses amours chantées en vers que la mémoire De l'âme va redire aux vierges endormies : Et voilà qu'elle abat ses paupières blêmies Et saute dans la mer où l'appelle la Moire, -- Tandis qu'au ciel éclate, incendiant l'eau noire, La pâle Séléné qui venge les Amies.
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View text without footnotes1 Vierne: "des rites"
Text Authorship:
- by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Sappho", appears in Parallèlement, in Les amies, no. 6, Paris, Éd. Léon Vanier, first published 1889 [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 Patrick Burgan (b. 1960), "Sappho", 1998?, published 1998 [ soprano and flute ], from Jeux de femmes, 6 poèmes érotiques de Paul Verlaine, no. 6, Éd. Billaudot [sung text not yet checked]
- by Rudi Spring (1962 - 2025), "Sappho", op. 96 no. 23 (2018) [ soprano and piano ], from Livre de Mélodies Françaises, no. 23 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louis Vierne (1870 - 1937), "Sapho", op. 38 no. 8 (1916), published 1924 [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ], from Spleens et Détresses, no. 8, Paris, Salabert [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Corinne Orde) , "Sapho", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Geoffrey Wieting
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 110
Furious, with sunken eyes and taught breasts, Sapho, irritated by her yearning desire, Like a she-wolf, runs along the cold shores. She dreams of Phaon, forgetful of convention, And seeing her tears so far scorned, Tears out her long hair by the fistful. Then she calls to mind, in relentless remorse, Those times when the young glory of her love shone forth purely In sung verses that the soul's memory Would relate to sleeping virgins. And now she lowers her pallid eyelids And leaps into the sea, where the Moira [i.e. fate] calls her, While in the sky, setting fire to the black waters, Pale Selene erupts to avenge lesbians.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2008 by Corinne Orde, (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 Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Sappho", appears in Parallèlement, in Les amies, no. 6, Paris, Éd. Léon Vanier, first published 1889
This text was added to the website: 2008-01-16
Line count: 14
Word count: 110