by
Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
Dédicace de Pierre de Ronsard
Language: French (Français)
Les amours n'aiment tant les pleurs,
La mouche ne suit tant les fleurs,
Ni les vainqueurs tant les couronnes,
La Haye, comme tu poursuis
les tendres Muses que tu suis
Comme tes plus chères mignonnes.
Nul mieux que toi parmi les bois
Ne contrefais leurs douces voix
Et nul par les roches hautaines
ne les va mieux accompagnant
Ni mieux près d'elles se baignant
Dans le cristal de leurs fontaines.
Nul mieux dans les rais de la nuit,
Quand la lune en son plein reluit
Sur l'herbe avec elles ne danse,
Suivantes le pouce divin,
De ce grand Alcée Angevin
Qui devant sonne la cadence.
Toi lors couronné du lien
Que donne l'arbre Daphinien,
Ores tu prends plaisir d'élire
Le premier rang, or' le milieu,
Entre elles marchant comme un Dieu
Qui s'égaye au son de la lyre.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (David Wyatt) , "Dedication, by Pierre de Ronsard", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Christian Baur
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 138
Dedication, by Pierre de Ronsard
Language: English after the French (Français)
Love does not enjoy so many tears,
Bees do not seek so many flowers,
Conquerors do not seek so many crowns,
La Haye, as you pursue
The tender muses whom you seek
As your dearest darlings.
None better than you among the woods
Can mimic their sweet voices
And none through the high mountains
Can accompany them better
Nor can better get near them while they bathe
In the crystal of their springs.
None better, in the brightness of night
When the full moon shines
Upon the grass, can dance with them
Following the divine music
Of this great Angevin Alcaeus1
Who plays his cadences before them.
You then, crown of the line
Which is the Dauphin's family tree,
You take pleasure in choosing
Sometimes the front rank, sometimes the middle,
Walking among these ladies like a god
Who amuses himself with the sound of the lyre.
View original text (without footnotes)
1 Alcaeus: major Greek lyric poet ;
Angevin: of the royal house of Anjou
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2012 by David Wyatt, (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:
This text was added to the website: 2012-06-23
Line count: 24
Word count: 148
