Dans une barque d'Orient
S'en revenaient trois jeunes filles,
Trois jeunes filles d'Orient
S'en revenaient en barque d'or.

Une qui était noire
Et qui tenait le gouvernail,
Sur ses lèvres aux roses essences
Nous rapportait d'étranges histoires,
Dans le silence.

Une qui était brune,
Et qui tenait la voile en main
Et dont les pieds étaient ailés,
Nous rapportait des gestes d'ange,
En son immobilité.

Mais une qui était blonde,
Qui dormait à l'avant,
Dont les cheveux tombaient dans l'onde
Comme du soleil levant,
Nous rapportait sous ses paupières,
La lumière.

H. Dutilleux sets stanzas 1, 3, 2, 1

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with La Wallonie: revue mensuelle, Belgium, Des presses de H. Vaillant-Carmanne, Janvier-Février 1892, page 304.

Published originally under the title Chanson, which in later appearances (for example, in Entrevisions, Bruxelles, Éd. Lacomblez, 1898) was changed to Barque d'or.

Text Authorship:

• by Charles van Lerberghe (1861 - 1907), title 1: "Barque d'or", title 2: "Chanson", written 1892, appears in Entrevisions, in 1. Jeux et songes, no. 16, first published 1892 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Henri Dutilleux (1916 - 2013), "Barque d'or", 1937?, first performed 1937, stanzas 1,3,2,1 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Paul Dutilleux [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Gabriel-André Fabre (1858 - 1921), "Barque d'or", published [1897] [ mezzo-soprano or baritone, piano, violin or cello ad libitum ], Paris, Éd. Henri Tellier [sung text not yet checked]
• by Victor Legley (1915 - 1994), "Barque d'or", op. 15 no. 3 (1944) [ contralto or alto and piano ], from Cinq mélodies françaises, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Anny Mesritz-van Velthuysen (1887 - 1965), "Barque d'or", 1932, copyright © 1948 [ voice and orchestra ], from Trois Chansons, no. 3, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Golden Barque", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2011-03-14
Line count: 20
Word count: 91

In a barque from the Orient 
Were returning three young girls,
Three young girls from the Orient 
Were returning in a golden barque.

One whose hair was black
And whose hand was on the tiller,
Upon her lips with rosy essences
Brought us back strange stories 
Amid silence.

One whose hair was brown,
And who held the sail in her hand
And whose feet bore wings,
Brought us back angelic gestures
In her immobility.

But one whose hair was blonde,
Who slept in the bow,
Whose hair fell into the wave
As if from the rising sun,
Brought us back beneath her eyelids
Light.