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J'étais mort, et je dis à mon âme : « Il est temps, Quitte [ta]1 tombe et viens, monte vers la lumière : Tous ces vivants, Oh ! comme ils rient, tu les entends ? Il fait trop noir et froid ici, sors de ta bière. » Le couvercle était lourd, et je raidis mes mains : Que de clartés là-haut et quel [grand bruit]2 de fête ! Horreur ! je retombai ; mes efforts étaient vains : C'était l'éternité qui pesait sur ma tête !
Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor, L'Illusion, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1897, Page 260.
1 Fleuret: "la"2 Fleuret: "grands bruits"
Text Authorship:
- by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Le Couvercle du mort", written 1875, appears in L'Illusion, in 4. Heures sombres, no. 15, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1875 [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 Daniel Fleuret (1869 - 1915), "Le Couvercle du mort", published 1912 [ medium voice and piano ], from L'Illusion, poème en neuf chants de Jean Lahor, no. 9, Lyon, Éd. Janin Frères [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "The Dead Man's Coffin-Lid", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2025-05-22
Line count: 8
Word count: 78
I was dead, and I said to my soul, "It is time, Leave [your]1 tomb and come, climb towards the light: All the living, oh! do you hear how they laugh? It is too dark and cold here, come out of your coffin." The lid was heavy, and I tensed my hands: How many lights above, what [a clamor]2 of celebration! Horror! I fell back; my efforts were in vain: It was eternity that weighed upon my head!
1 Fleuret: "the"
2 Fleuret: "clamors"
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.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Le Couvercle du mort", written 1875, appears in L'Illusion, in 4. Heures sombres, no. 15, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1875
This text was added to the website: 2025-05-23
Line count: 8
Word count: 80