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Pays des noirs ! berceau du pauvre Arsène, [Ton souvenir vient-il chercher mon cœur ?]1 Vent de Guinée, est-ce ta douce haleine Qui me caresse et charme ma douleur ! M'apportes-tu les [baisers]2 de ma mère, Ou la chanson [qui console]3 mon père ?... Jouez, dansez, beaux petits blancs ; Pour être bons, restez enfans ! Nègre captif, [courbé]4 sur le rivage, Je te vois rire en [songeant]5 à la mort ; Ton âme libre ira sur un nuage, Où ta naissance avait fixé ton sort. Dieu te rendra les baisers [d'une]6 mère Et la chanson que t'apprenait ton père !... Jouez, dansez, beaux petits blancs ; Pour être bons, restez enfans ! Pauvre et content, jamais le noir paisible, Pour vous troubler, n'a traversé les flots ; Et parmi [nous]7, sous un maître inflexible, Jamais d'un homme on n'entend les sanglots. Pour [nous]7 ravir aux baisers d'une mère, Qu'avons-nous fait au dieu de votre père ?... Jouez, dansez, beaux petits blancs ; Pour être bons, restez enfans !
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, Les Veillées des Antilles, Paris: François Louis, 1821, Page 16.
Sometimes titled "L'esclave" in anthologies.1 Adam: "Songes confus qui courez dans mon cœur,"
2 Naderman: "soupirs"
3 Adam: "que m'apprenait"
4 Naderman: "couché"
5 Naderman: "rêvant"
6 Adam, Naderman: "de ta"
7 Naderman: "vous"
Text Authorship:
- by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786 - 1859), "L'esclave", appears in Les Veillées des Antilles, appears in Romances inédites de M. Desbordes-Valmore, recueillies par Bertrand Guégan, et décorées de vignettes par Pierre Laprade, no. 10, Sarah, p. 16, first published 1821 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Adolphe Charles Adam (1803 - 1856), "Restez enfants" [ high voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jean François Joseph Naderman (1773 - 1835), "L'esclave", published 1928 [ medium voice, unaccompanied ], from Romances inédites de M. Desbordes-Valmore, recueillies par Bertrand Guégan, et décorées de vignettes par Pierre Laprade, no. 10, Paris, Éd. de la Collection des Parallèles [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2013-07-14
Line count: 24
Word count: 165
Land of the black man! cradle of poor Arsène, [Is your memory coming in search of my heart?]1 Wind from Guinea, is it your sweet breath That caresses me and beguiles my pain? Are you bringing me my mother's [kisses]2, Or the song that [comforts]3 my father? Dance and play, pretty white children; If you wish to be good, do not grow up! Negro captive, [hunched]4 on the shore, I see you laugh when you [contemplate]5 death; Your soul set free will travel on a cloud, To where your birth had settled your fate. God will give you [a]6 mother's kisses, And the song you learned from your father! Dance and play, pretty white children; If you wish to be good, do not grow up! Poor and contented, the peaceful black man Has never crossed the waves to trouble you; And among [us]7, under a strict master, No man is ever heard sobbing. To steal [us]7 away from a mother's kisses, What have we done to the god of your father? Dance and play, pretty white children; If you wish to be good, do not grow up!
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Translations of titles:
"L'esclave" = "The Slave"
"Restez enfants" = "Do Not Grow Up"
2 Naderman: "sighs"
3 Adam: "I learned from"
4 Naderman: "lying"
5 Naderman: "dream of"
6 Adam, Naderman: "your"
7 Naderman: "you"
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 Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786 - 1859), "L'esclave", appears in Les Veillées des Antilles, appears in Romances inédites de M. Desbordes-Valmore, recueillies par Bertrand Guégan, et décorées de vignettes par Pierre Laprade, no. 10, Sarah, p. 16, first published 1821
This text was added to the website: 2025-12-24
Line count: 24
Word count: 197