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As the Day, so the Night
Translations © by Grant Hicks
Song Cycle by Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963)
View original-language texts alone: Tel jour Telle nuit, FP 86
1. Bonne journée
Language: French (Français)
Bonne journée j'ai revu qui je n'oublie pas Qui je n'oublierai jamais Et des femmes fugaces dont les yeux Me faisaient une haie d'honneur Elles s'enveloppèrent dans leurs sourires Bonne journée j'ai vu mes amis sans soucis Les hommes ne pesaient pas lourd Un qui passait Son ombre changée en souris Fuyait dans le ruisseau J'ai vu le ciel très grand Le beau regard des gens privés de tout Plage distante où personne n'aborde Bonne journée qui commença mélancolique Noire sous les arbres verts Mais qui soudain trempée d'aurore M'entra dans le coeur par surprise.
Text Authorship:
- by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, no title, appears in À Pablo Picasso, no. 1, first published 1936
Go to the general single-text view
by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
1. Good Day
Language: English
Good day I've seen again the one I don't forget The one I will never forget And the elusive women whose eyes Formed for me an honor guard They wrapped themselves in their smiles Good day I've seen my carefree friends The men did not weigh very much One who was passing His shadow become a mouse Fled into the gutter I've seen the vast sky The beautiful gaze of people deprived of everything Distant shore where no one lands Good day that was melancholy at first Black beneath the green trees But which suddenly drenched with dawn Entered into my heart by surprise.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, no title, appears in À Pablo Picasso, no. 1, first published 1936
Go to the general single-text view
Translations of titles:
"Bonne journée" = "Good Day"
This text was added to the website: 2025-12-20
Line count: 17
Word count: 104
Translation © by Grant Hicks
2. Une ruine coquille vide
Language: French (Français)
Une ruine coquille vide Pleure dans son tablier Les enfants qui jouent autour d'elle Font moins de bruit que des mouches La ruine s'en va à tâtons Chercher ses vaches dans un pré J'ai vu le jour je vois cela Sans en avoir honte Il est minuit comme une flèche Dans un coeur à la portée Des folâtres lueurs nocturnes Qui contredisent le sommeil.
Text Authorship:
- by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, "Je croyais le repos possible"
Go to the general single-text view
by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
2. A wreck empty shell
Language: English
A wreck empty shell Weeps into her apron The children playing around her Make less noise than flies The wreck gropes her way out To look for her cows in a meadow I've seen the daylight I see that Without being ashamed It is midnight like an arrow In a heart within reach Of the playful nighttime glimmers That contradict sleep.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, "Je croyais le repos possible"
Go to the general single-text view
Translations of titles:
"Je croyais le repos possible" = "I believed rest was possible"
"Une ruine coquille vide" = "A wreck empty shell"
This text was added to the website: 2025-12-20
Line count: 12
Word count: 61
Translation © by Grant Hicks
3. Le front comme un drapeau perdu
Language: French (Français)
Le front comme un drapeau perdu Je te traîne quand je suis seul Dans des rues froides Des chambres noires En criant misère Je ne veux pas les lâcher Tes mains claires et compliquées Nées dans le miroir clos des miennes Tout le reste est parfait Tout le reste est encore plus inutile Que la vie Creuse la terre sous ton ombre Une nappe d'eau près des seins Où se noyer Comme une pierre.
Text Authorship:
- by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, "Être"
Go to the general single-text view
by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
3. Brow like a lost flag
Language: English
Brow like a lost flag I drag you along when I am alone In cold streets Dark rooms While crying in misery I don't want to let go of them Your hands clear and complicated Born in the enclosed mirror of my own All the rest is perfect All the rest is even more useless Than life Excavate the ground beneath your shadow A sheet of water almost to the breasts To drown oneself in Like a stone.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, "Être"
Go to the general single-text view
Translations of titles:
"Être" = "To Be"
"Le front comme un drapeau perdu" = "Brow like a lost flag"
This text was added to the website: 2025-12-20
Line count: 15
Word count: 78
Translation © by Grant Hicks
4. Une roulotte couverte en tuiles
Language: French (Français)
Une roulotte couverte en tuiles Le cheval mort un enfant maître Pensant le front bleu de haine A deux seins s'abattant sur lui Comme deux poings. Ce mélodrame nous arrache La raison du coeur.
Text Authorship:
- by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
Go to the general single-text view
by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
4. A caravan covered in tiles
Language: English
A caravan covered in tiles The horse dead a child in charge Thinking the brow blue with hatred With two breasts beating down on him Like two fists. This melodrama rips Reason from our heart.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2025-12-20
Line count: 7
Word count: 35
Translation © by Grant Hicks
5. À toutes brides
Language: French (Français)
À toutes brides toi dont le fantôme
Piaffe la nuit sur un violon
Viens régner dans les bois
Les verges de l'ouragan
Cherchent leur chemin par chez toi
Tu n'es pas des celles
Dont on invente les désirs
...
Viens boire un baiser par ici
Cède au feu qui te désespère.
Text Authorship:
- by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, no title, appears in Les yeux fertiles, in Grand air, in Intimes, no. 2
Go to the general single-text view
by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
5. Given free rein
Language: English
Given free rein you whose phantom
Prances at night on a violin
Come to rule in the woods
The batterings of the hurricane
Seek their track by way of you
You are not among those
Whose desires are invented
[ ... ]
Come drink a kiss here
Yield to the fire that robs you of hope.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, no title, appears in Les yeux fertiles, in Grand air, in Intimes, no. 2
Go to the general single-text view
Translations of titles:
"À toutes brides" = "Given free rein"
This text was added to the website: 2025-12-20
Line count: 11
Word count: 63
Translation © by Grant Hicks
6. Une herbe pauvre
Language: French (Français)
Une herbe pauvre Sauvage Apparut dans la neige. C'était la santé. Ma bouche fut émerveillé Du goût d'air pur qu'elle avait. Elle était fanée.
Text Authorship:
- by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
Go to the general single-text view
by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
6. Meager grass
Language: English
Meager grass Wild Appeared in the snow. It was health. My mouth was astonished At the flavor of pure air that it had. It was withered.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2025-12-20
Line count: 7
Word count: 26
Translation © by Grant Hicks
7. Je n'ai envie que de t'aimer
Language: French (Français)
Je n'ai envie que de t'aimer Un orage emplit la vallée Un poisson la rivière Je t'ai faite à la taille de ma solitude. Le monde entier pour se cacher Des jours des nuits pour se comprendre Pour ne plus rien voir dans tes yeux Que ce que je pense de toi Et d'un monde à ton image Et des jours et des nuits réglés par tes paupières.
Text Authorship:
- by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, written 1936, appears in Les yeux fertiles, in Grand air, in Intimes, no. 5, Éd. GLM, first published 1936
See other settings of this text.
by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
7. I wish only to love you
Language: English
I wish only to love you A storm fills the valley A fish the river I formed you to the dimensions of my loneliness. The whole world to hide in Days nights to understand each other To see nothing more in your eyes Than what I think of you And of a world in your image And days and nights governed by your eyelids.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, written 1936, appears in Les yeux fertiles, in Grand air, in Intimes, no. 5, Éd. GLM, first published 1936
Go to the general single-text view
Translations of titles:
"Je n'ai envie que de t'aimer" = "I wish only to love you"
"Je n'ai envie que de t'aimer (intimes)" = "I wish only to love you (intimates)"
This text was added to the website: 2025-12-20
Line count: 10
Word count: 64
Translation © by Grant Hicks
8. Figure de force brûlante et farouche
Language: French (Français)
Figure de force brûlante et farouche Cheveux noirs où l'or coule vers le sud Aux nuits corrompues Or englouti étoile impure Dans un lit jamais partagé. Aux veines des tempes Comme aux bouts des seins La vie se refuse. Les yeux nul ne peut les crever Boire leur éclat ni leurs larmes. Le sang au-dessus d'eux triomphe pour lui seul. Intraitable démesurée Inutile Cette santé bâtit une prison.
Text Authorship:
- by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
Go to the general single-text view
by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
8. Figure of strength fiery and untamed
Language: English
Figure of strength fiery and untamed Black hair where gold flows southwards On corrupted nights Sunken gold impure star In a bed never shared. In the veins of the temples As at the tips of the breasts Life denies itself. The eyes none can put them out Drink their brightness nor their tears. Blood triumphs over them only for itself. Intractable immoderate Useless This health built a prison.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2025-12-20
Line count: 14
Word count: 68
Translation © by Grant Hicks
9. Nous avons fait la nuit
Language: French (Français)
Nous avons fait la nuit je tiens ta main je veille Je te soutiens de toutes mes forces Je grave sur un roc l'étoile de tes forces. Sillons profonds où la bonté de ton corps germera Je me répète ta voix cachée ta voix publique Je ris encore de l'orgueilleuse Que tu traites comme une mendiante Des fous que tu respectes des simples où tu te baignes. Et dans ma tête qui se met doucement d'accord avec la tienne avec la nuit Je m'émerveille de l'inconnue que tu deviens Une inconnue semblable à toi semblable à tout ce que j'aime Qui est toujours nouveau.
Text Authorship:
- by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, no title, appears in Les yeux fertiles, first published 1936
Go to the general single-text view
by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
9. We have made the night
Language: English
We have made the night I hold your hand I watch over you I sustain you with all my strength I carve on a rock the star of your strength. Deep furrows where the goodness of your body will sprout I repeat to myself your hidden voice your public voice I still laugh at the haughty woman You treat as a beggar At the fools you respect at the simple folk you immerse yourself in. And in my head that gently attunes itself to yours to the night I marvel at the unknown that you become An unknown resembling you resembling everything that I love Who is ever new.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, no title, appears in Les yeux fertiles, first published 1936
Go to the general single-text view
Translations of titles:
"Nous avons fait la nuit" = "We have made the night"
This text was added to the website: 2025-12-20
Line count: 12
Word count: 109
Translation © by Grant Hicks