L'espia | Pàl·lida espia de l'Amor

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by Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire

Translation © by Salvador Pila

L'Espionne

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT ENG GER

Pâle espionne de l'Amour
Ma mémoire à peine fidèle
N'eut pour observer cette belle
Forteresse qu'une heure un jour

Tu te déguises
                À ta guise
Mémoire espionne du cœur
Tu ne retrouves plus l'exquise
Ruse et le coeur seul est vainqueur

Mais la vois-tu cette mémoire
Les yeux bandés prête à mourir
Elle affirme qu'on peut l'en croire
Mon coeur vaincra sans coup férir

Text Authorship:

by Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire, "L'espionne", appears in Calligrammes - Poèmes de la paix et de la guerre, in 5. Obus couleur de lune, first published 1918 [author's text not yet checked 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 Robert Caby (1905 - 1992), "L'espionne", 1939, published 1991 [ voice and piano ], Éd. de l'AARC (Association des Amis de Robert Caby) [sung text not yet checked]
by Émile Naoumoff (b. 1962), "L'espionne", <<2011 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963), "L'Espionne", FP 140 no. 1 (1948), published 1948 [ baritone and piano ], from Calligrammes, no. 1, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "L'espia", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Korin Kormick) , "The spy", copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Julia Henning) , "Die Spionin", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2003-10-12
Line count: 13
Word count: 64

L'espia

Language: Catalan (Català) after the French (Français)

Pàl·lida espia de l'Amor
la meva memòria, poc fidel,
només va tenir una hora un dia
per observar aquesta bella fortalesa

Et disfresses
               com et plau
memòria, espia del cor,
ja no pots retrobar aquella exquisida
astúcia, i només el cor és victoriós

Però tu la veus aquesta memòria
amb els ulls embenats, a punt de morir
ella afirma que ens la podem creure
el meu cor triomfarà sense lluitar

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to Catalan (Català) copyright © 2026 by Salvador Pila, (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 Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880 - 1918), as Guillaume Apollinaire, "L'espionne", appears in Calligrammes - Poèmes de la paix et de la guerre, in 5. Obus couleur de lune, first published 1918
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-04-22
Line count: 13
Word count: 70