Three Chinese Poems

Translations © by Grant Hicks

Song Cycle by G. Basilewsky

View original-language texts alone: Trois poèmes chinois, op. 18

1. Notre bateau glisse  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Notre bateau glisse sur le fleuve calme.
Au delà du verger qui borde la rive,
je regarde les montagnes bleues et les nuages blancs.

Mon amie sommeille, la main dans l'eau.
Un papillon s'est posé sur son épaule,
a battu des ailes puis s'est envolé.

Je l'ai suivi des yeux, longtemps.
Il se dirigeait vers les montagnes de Tchang-nân.

Etait-ce un papillon, ou le rêve que venait de faire mon amie ?

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Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade : poésies chinoises, Paris: H. Piazza, 1922, pages 29-30.


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
1. Our boat glides ..
Language: English 
Our boat glides on the placid river. 
Beyond the orchard that runs along the bank, 
I gaze at the blue mountains and the white clouds. 

My love dozes, her hand in the water.
A butterfly has landed on her shoulder,
flapped its wings then flown off.

I followed it with my eyes for a long time.
It was headed towards the Tchang-nân mountains.

Was it a butterfly, or the dream my love had just dreamed?

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.
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This text was added to the website: 2026-04-15
Line count: 9
Word count: 75

Translation © by Grant Hicks
2. Pourtant  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Cette promesse que vous m'aviez faite,
sous l'acacia en fleurs,  hier soir ? 
Mais, où est la rosée qui alourdissait les fleurs de l'acacia ?

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Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade ; poésies chinoises, Paris: H. Piazza, 1926, p.71.


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
2. Even so...
Language: English 
That promise you'd made to me,
under the flowering acacia last night? 
But where is the dew that was weighing down the acacia flowers?

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.
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This text was added to the website: 2026-04-15
Line count: 3
Word count: 24

Translation © by Grant Hicks
3. La danse des dieux  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
J'avais mis toute mon âme dans une chanson
que j'ai chanté aux hommes, et ils ont ri !
j'ai pris mon luth,
je suis allé m'asseoir au sommet d'une montagne
et j'ai [chanté, pour les Dieux,]1 la chanson 
que les hommes n'avaient pas comprise.
Le soleil se couchait.
Au rhythme de ma chanson,
les Dieux ont dansé sur les nuages rouges
qui flottaient dans le ciel.

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Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade, poésies chinoises, Paris, L'édition d'art H. Piazza, 1920, pages 130-131.

1 Wertheim: "chanté"

by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
3. The Dance of the Gods
Language: English 
I had poured my entire soul into a song
which I sang for men, and they laughed!
I took up my lute,
and went and sat down on a mountaintop 
and sang, for the Gods, the song
that men had not understood.
The sun was setting.
To the rhythm of my song,
the Gods danced upon the red clouds
that were floating in the sky.

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: 

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This text was added to the website: 2026-04-14
Line count: 10
Word count: 66

Translation © by Grant Hicks