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by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873)

As a decrepit father takes delight
Language: English 
Our translations:  ITA
As a decrepit father takes delight
To see his active child do deeds of youth,
So I, made lame by Fortune's dearest spite,
Take all my comfort of thy worth and truth;
For whether beauty, birth, or wealth, or wit,
Or any of these all, or all, or more,
Entitled in thy parts, do crowned sit,
I make my love engrafted, to this store:
So then I am not lame, poor, nor despis'd,
Whilst that this shadow doth such substance give
That I in thy abundance am suffic'd,
And by a part of all thy glory live.
      Look what is best, that best I wish in thee:
      This wish I have; then ten times happy me!

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 37 [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 Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet XXXVII", 1865 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 37, first published 1857
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-08-11
Line count: 14
Word count: 116

Comme un père en sa décrépitude prend...
Language: French (Français)  after the English 
Comme un père en sa décrépitude prend plaisir 
à voir son enfant alerte faire acte de jeunesse, 
de même, moi, que la rancune acharnée de la fortune a rendu boiteux, 
je trouve toute ma consolation dans ton mérite et dans ta perfection.
Car, quel que soit celui des biens de ce monde, 
beauté, naissance, richesse, esprit, 
qui, ennobli en ta personne, ait sa couronne en toi, 
je greffe mon amour à ces trésors.
Alors je ne suis plus boiteux, pauvre, ni méprisé ; 
car je trouve sous ton ombre une telle séve 
que je suis rassasié par ton abondance, 
et que je vis d'un peu de toute ta gloire.
  Pense à ce qu'il y a de meilleur, je le désire en toi ; 
  et mon désir est d'avance exaucé ; donc je suis dix fois heureux !

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by François-Victor Hugo (1828 - 1873), no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 37, first published 1857 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 37
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

    [ None yet in the database ]


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-08-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 133

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