To be poor yet give everything you own | To be poor yet give everything you own

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by David Wyatt

Estre indigent et donner tout le sien

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Estre indigent et donner tout le sien,
Se feindre un ris, avoir le cœur en pleinte,
Haïr le vray, aimer la chose feinte,
Posseder tout et ne jouir de rien :
 
Estre délivré et trainer son lien,
Estre vaillant et couarder de crainte,
Vouloir mourir et vivre par contrainte,
[Et sans profit despendre tout son bien]¹:
 
Avoir tousjours pour un servil hommage
La honte au front, en la main le dommage :
A ses pensers d’un courage hautain
 
Ourdir sans cesse une nouvelle trame,
Sont les effets qui logent en mon ame
L’espoir douteux et le tourment certain.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• G. Boni

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Boni: "De cent travaux ne recevoir un bien"

Text Authorship:

by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Guillaume Boni (c1530 - c1594), "Estre indigent et donner tout le sien", published 1607 [vocal quartet], from the collection Sonnets de Pierre de Ronsard mis en musique à 4 parties, II, no. 4, Paris, Pierre Ballard [
text verified 1 time
]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (David Wyatt) , title 1: "To be poor yet give everything you own", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: David Wyatt

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 96

To be poor yet give everything you own

Language: English after the French (Français)

To be poor yet give everything you own,
To simulate a smile, while your heart is grieving,
To hate the truth and like dissimulation,
To possess everything and enjoy nothing;
 
To be freed yet to keep your bonds,
To be brave yet shiver with fear,
To wish to die yet be forced to live,
[And profitless to spend all your goods]¹;
 
To have always, as your slave-like act of homage,
Shame on your brow, loss in your hand ;
In her thoughts, with proud courage,
 
Endlessly to hear new intrigues:
These are the things which lodge in my heart
Uncertain hope and sure torture.

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Boni: "From a hundred trials to receive not one benefit"

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2015 by David Wyatt, (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 Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 103