The Jade Flute

Translations © by Grant Hicks

by Catherine d'Ollone, née Catherine de Pontière (1882 - 1954)

View original-language texts alone: La Flûte de Jade

1. La dernière promenade  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Tu as laissé tomber dans la poussière
la tulipe rouge que je t'avais donnée.
Je l'ai ramassée.
Elle était devenue blanche.
En ce bref instant, il avait neigé sur notre amour.

Text Authorship:

Based on:

See other settings of this text.

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade : poésies chinoises, Paris: H. Piazza, 1920, page 23.


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
1. The Last Stroll
Language: English 
You dropped in the dust
the red tulip I'd given you. 
I picked it back up. 
It had become white. 
In that brief instant, it had snowed on our love.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (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: 

Based on:

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view

Translations of titles:
"Dernière promenade" = "Last Stroll"
"La dernière promenade" = "The Last Stroll"


This text was added to the website: 2026-04-07
Line count: 5
Word count: 30

Translation © by Grant Hicks
2. La cigale  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Comme il m'attriste, ce chant de cigale
qui vibre là-bas ! 
Je vois ce frêle insecte. Accablé de rosée,
il ne peut s'envoler, et il chante. 
Ainsi, mon âme, lourde de chagrin, 
est incapable de s'élever jusqu'aux sommets
que n'atteignent pas les flèches des perfides.
Dans la tempête qui m'a renversé,
j'écris, en pleurant, des poésies sereines.

Text Authorship:

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade : poésies chinoises, Paris: H. Piazza, 1920, pages 100-101.


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
2. The Cicada
Language: English 
How it saddens me, the cicada's song
humming out there! 
I see that frail insect. Weighed down by the dew, 
he cannot take flight, and he sings.
Thus my soul, heavy with sorrow, 
cannot raise itself to the heights
where the arrows of the treacherous do not reach. 
In the tempest that has overwhelmed me, 
I write serene verses, though I am in tears.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (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: 

Based on:

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view

Translations of titles:
"En prison le poète ècoute une cigale" = "In Prison the Poet Listens to a Cicada"
"La cigale" = "The Cicada"


This text was added to the website: 2026-04-29
Line count: 9
Word count: 64

Translation © by Grant Hicks
3. Depuis qu'elle est partie  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Ne m'apportez plus de fleurs, 
mais de branches de cyprès 
où je plongerais mon visage ! 
Quand le soleil a disparu 
derrière les montagnes, 
je mets ma robe bleu 
aux manches légères, 
et je vais dormir
parmi les bambous qu'elle aimait.

Text Authorship:

Based on:

See other settings of this text.

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade : poésies chinoises, Paris: H. Piazza, 1920, page 3.


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
3. Since she went away...
Language: English 
Bring me no more flowers, 
but cypress branches 
for me to bury my face in! 
When the sun has disappeared 
behind the mountains, 
I put on my blue robe
with light sleeves 
and I go and sleep 
among the bamboo that she loved.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (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: 

Based on:

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2026-04-12
Line count: 9
Word count: 43

Translation © by Grant Hicks
4. Les jeunes filles du temps passé  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Les jeunes filles du temps passé 
sont assises dans un bosquet, parmi les fleurs.
Elles disent : « Nous croyons que nous sommes vieilles, 
que nos cheveux sont blancs,
et que nos yeux n'ont plus l'éclat de la lune nouvelle, 
mais il n'en est rien.
Le seul coupable est notre miroir, embué d'hiver. 
C'est lui qui met de la neige sur nos cheveux,
c'est lui qui déforme nos traits ! 
L'Hiver méchant ne règne que dans notre miroir. »

Text Authorship:

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade, Paris: H. Piazza, 1920, pages 104-105.


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
4. The Maidens of Bygone Days
Language: English 
The maidens of bygone days
are sitting in a grove among the flowers.
They say, "We believe that we are old, 
that our hair is white, 
and that our eyes no longer have the radiance of the waxing moon, 
but none of that is true. 
The only culprit is our mirror, clouded by Winter. 
That is what puts the snow on our hair, 
that is what distorts our features! 
Malicious Winter holds sway only in our mirror."

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (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: 

Based on:

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view

Translations of titles:
"Jeunes filles du temps passé" = "Maidens of Bygone Days"
"Les jeunes filles du temps passé" = "The Maidens of Bygone Days"


This text was added to the website: 2026-04-29
Line count: 10
Word count: 77

Translation © by Grant Hicks