Quan el sol s’amaga a ponent

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by John Clare (1793 - 1864)

Translation © by Salvador Pila

When once the sun sinks in the west

Language: English

Our translations: CAT DUT GER

When once the sun sinks in the west,
And dew-drops pearl the Evening's breast;
Almost as pale as moonbeams are,
Or its companionable star,
The Evening Primrose opes anew
Its delicate blossoms to the dew;
And hermit-like, shunning the light,
Wastes its fair bloom upon the Night;
Who, blindfold to its fond caresses,
Knows not the beauty he possesses.
Thus it blooms on while Night is by;
When Day looks out with open eye,
'Bashed at the gaze it cannot shun,
It faints, and withers, and is gone.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with The Rural Muse : Poems by John Clare, London, Whittaker, 1835, page 137.

Text Authorship:

by John Clare (1793 - 1864), "Evening Primrose", appears in The Rural Muse, in Sonnets, no. 37, first published 1835 [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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "The evening primrose", 1950, published 1951 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Five Flower Songs, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Pauline Kroger) , "De teunisbloem", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , "Nachtkerzen", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 88

Quan el sol s’amaga a ponent

Language: Catalan (Català) after the English

Quan el sol s’amaga a ponent,
i les gotes de rosada perlegen la sina del capvespre;
quasi tan pàl·lida com els raigs de la lluna
o l’estrella que l’acompanya,
la prímula vespral obre de nou
les seves delicades flors a la rosada;
i com un eremita, defugint la llum,
malversa les seves boniques flors en la nit;
que, cegues a ses tendres carícies,
no saben la beutat que posseeixen.
Així, floreix mentre dura la nit;
quan el dia esguarda amb els ulls oberts,
colpida per l’esguard que no pot defugir,
s’esvaneix, es marceix i desapareix.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Evening Primrose" = "Prímula vespral"
"The evening primrose" = "La prímula vespral"

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to Catalan (Català) copyright © 2024 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.
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Based on:

a text in English by John Clare (1793 - 1864), "Evening Primrose", appears in The Rural Muse, in Sonnets, no. 37, first published 1835
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2024-10-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 95