English translation of Le livre de la vie

by Jean-Baptiste Faure (1830 - 1914), "Le livre de la vie", subtitle: "Feuillet d'album" [ baritone or mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Quatrième recueil de vingt mélodies, no. 12, Édition Heugel 'Au Ménestrel'

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Sur cette page blanche où mes vers vont éclore,
Qu'un regard quelquefois ramène votre cœur.
De votre vie aussi la page est blanche encore; 
Que ne puis-je y graver un seul mot : Le bonheur !

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Confirmed with Œuvres complètes de Lamartine: Épîtres et poésies diverses. Recuillements poétiques, Tome cinquième. Paris, chez l'auteur, 1860, p. 225


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Le livre de la vie est [le]1 livre suprême
Qu'on ne peut ni fermer, ni rouvrir à son choix ;
Le passage attachant ne s'y lit pas deux fois,
Mais le feuillet fatal se tourne de lui-même;
On voudrait revenir à la page où l'on aime,
Et la page où l'on meurt est déjà sous [nos]2 doigts.

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1 Schlesinger: "un"; further changes may exist not shown above.
2 Velasquez: "vos"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Author(s): Alphonse Marie Louis de Lamartine (1790 - 1869)
On this blank page where my verses will blossom,
Let a glance occasionally bring back your heart.
For your life as well the page is still blank;
Thus I cannot engrave a single word on it: Happiness!

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Anyi Sharma, (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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Translator's note for the last two lines: in other words, your future is still unwritten.



The book of life is the supreme book
which you cannot close or open as you choose:
the captivating passage cannot be read twice,
but the fatal page opens of itself.
You would like to return to the page where you love,
and the page where you die is already under your fingers.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2022 by Peter Low, (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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Translation of title "Le livre de la vie" = "The Book of Life"


Translation © by Anyi Sharma, Peter Low