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Sleepless Nights

Translations © by T. P. (Peter) Perrin

Song Cycle by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918)

View original-language texts alone: Nuits blanches

1. Nuit sans fin
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Nuit sans fin.
Tristesse morne des heures où l'on attend !
Cœur rompu.
Fièvre du sang rythmant les douces syllabes de son nom.
Qu'elle vienne, la trop désirée,
Qu'elle vienne, la trop aimée,
Et m'entoure de son parfum de jeune fleur !
Que mes lèvres mordent le fruit de sa bouche
Jusqu'à retenir son âme entre mes lèvres !
Ai-je donc pleuré en vain,
Ai-je donc crié en vain
Vers tout cela qui me fuit ?
Tristesse morne.
Nuit sans fin !

Text Authorship:

  • by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918)

Go to the general single-text view

by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918)
1. Endless night
Language: English 
Endless night.
Desolate gloom of the waiting hours.
Shattered heart,
fevered blood drumming her name's lovely syllables.
Let her come, the too-much-wanted;
let her come, the too-much-loved,
and wrap me in her odor of early blooms.
May my lips bite the fruit of her mouth
till the taste of her soul is theirs.
Have I shed tears in vain,
have I called out in vain,
to all that deserts me?
Desolate gloom,
endless night.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2011 by T. P. (Peter) Perrin, (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 Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918)
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2011-10-07
Line count: 14
Word count: 74

Translation © by T. P. (Peter) Perrin
2. Lorsqu'elle est entrée
 (Sung text)
Language: French (Français) 
Lorsqu'elle est entrée, il m'a semblé
Que le mensonge traînait aux plis de sa jupe ;
La lueur de ses grands yeux mentait,
Et dans la musique de sa voix,
Quelque chose d'étranger vibrait.
C'étaient les doux mots que je connais si bien,
Mais ils me faisaient mal et entraient en moi doulouresement.
Qui donc a usé son regard ?
Qui donc a fané la rougeur de sa bouche ?
D'où vient cette lassitude heureuse
Qui semble avoir brisé son corps
Comme une fleur trop aimée du soleil ?
Oh ! torturer une à une les veines de son cher corps !
L'anéantir et le consumer, ensevelir sa chair
Dans ma chair, avec la joie amère
De l'impossible pardon !
Tout à l'heure ses mains plus délicates que des fleurs
Se poseront sur mes yeux et tisseront le voile de l'oubli...
Alors mon sang rebattra, les plaies rouges
De mon cœur saigneront, et le sang montera,
Noyant son mensonge,
Et toute ma peine.

Text Authorship:

  • by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918)

Go to the general single-text view

by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918)
2. When she first appeared
Language: English 
When she first appeared I felt
deceit was caught in the folds of her skirt;
her large eyes glowed with falsehood;
and in her voice's music sounded
something remote, inhuman.
None but sweet words I know so well,
but which, when I absorb them, are harsh and wounding.
What then has dulled her glance?
What then has faded her mouth's redness?
What is the source of the cherished weariness
that seems to have burned out her body
like a flower too much loved by the sun?
Oh, to torment one by one the channels of her loved body!
To wreck it, devour it, to bury her flesh
in my flesh, know the bitter joy
of no chance of forgiveness.
Soon her hands, more delicate than flowers,
will cover my eyes and weave oblivion's veil . . .
Then my blood will rekindle, my heart's red wounds
will bleed, and my blood rise up
to drown her deceit
and all my sorrow.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2011 by T. P. (Peter) Perrin, (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 Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918)
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2011-10-07
Line count: 22
Word count: 161

Translation © by T. P. (Peter) Perrin
Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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