The Glowworm | Glowworm, you glow at midnight

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by Robert Desnos (1900 - 1945)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Le ver luisant

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Ver luisant tu luis à minuit,
Tu t’allumes sous les étoiles
Et, quand tout dort, tu t’introduis
Dans la lune et ronge sa moelle.

La lune, nid des vers luisants,
Dans le ciel continue sa route.
Elle sème sur les enfants,
Sur tous les beaux enfants dormant,
Rêve sur rêve, goutte à goutte.

Text Authorship:

by Robert Desnos (1900 - 1945), "Le ver luisant", appears in Pour les Enfants Sages, in Chantefables, no. 30, first published 1944 [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 Roger Albin (1920 - 2001), "Le ver luisant", 1969?, published 1969 [ soprano and piano or small orchestra ], from Chantefables pour les enfants sages, no. 6, Éd. du Rideau Rouge (R 497 RC) [sung text not yet checked]
by Henri Barraud (1900 - 1997), "Le ver luisant", op. 36 no. 4 (1945) [ medium voice and piano ], from Huit chantefables pour les enfants sages, no. 4, Éd. Françaises de Musique-Sofirad [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "The Glowworm", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2014-05-23
Line count: 9
Word count: 53

The Glowworm

Language: English after the French (Français)

Glowworm, you glow at midnight, 
You catch fire under the stars
And, while all is asleep, you crawl
Into the moon and gnaw her marrow.

The moon, nest of glowworms,
In the sky continues on her way.
She scatters over the children,
Over all the beautiful sleeping children,
Dream upon dream, drop by drop.

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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Robert Desnos (1900 - 1945), "Le ver luisant", appears in Pour les Enfants Sages, in Chantefables, no. 30, first published 1944
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-07-03
Line count: 9
Word count: 54