When I see you, or when I think of you | When I see you, or when I think of you

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by David Wyatt

Quand je vous voy ou quand je pense en vous

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Quand je vous voy, ou quand je pense en vous,
Je ne scay quoy dans le cœur me fretille,
Qui me pointelle et tout d'un coup me pille
L'esprit emblé d'un ravissement doux.

Je tremble tout de nerfs et de genous,
Comme la cire au feu je me distile
Sous mes soupirs, et ma force inutile
Me laisse froid, sans haleine et sans pous.

Je semble au mort qu'on devale en la fosse,
Ou à celuy qui d'une fievre grosse
Perd le cerveau, dont les espris mués

Resvent [cela qui plus leur est]¹ contraire.
Ainsi mourant je ne sçauroy tant faire
Que je ne pense en vous qui me tuez.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• G. Boni • J. de Maletty

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Boni, Maletty: "au mal qui est le plus"

Text Authorship:

by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585) [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), "Quand je vous voy ou quand je pense en vous", published 1608 [vocal quartet], from the collection Sonnets de Pierre de Ronsard mis en musique à 4 parties, I, no. 29, Paris, Pierre Ballard [
text verified 1 time
]
by Jean de Maletty (flourished 16th century), "Quand je vous voy ou quand je pense en vous" [
text verified 1 time
]

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

ENG English (David Wyatt) , title 1: "When I see you, or when I think of you", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: David Wyatt

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-28
Line count: 14
Word count: 110

When I see you, or when I think of you

Language: English after the French (Français)

When I see you, or when I think of you,
Something within my heart trembles,
Which stabs me and all at once steals away
My spirit, rapt by sweet delight.

I tremble all over, in my nerves and in my knees;
Like wax in the fire I melt
Beneath my sighs, and my useless strength
Leaves me cold, without breath or heartbeat.

I seem like a dead man who is thrown into a ditch,
Or like the man who loses his head
From a dreadful fever, whose broken spirits

Dream [of that which is]¹ most harmful to them.
So, dying, I shan't be able to do anything
But think of you who are killing me.

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Boni, Maletty: "of the ills which are"

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.
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Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-28
Line count: 14
Word count: 115