Against my wish | Against my wish, the attraction of your lovely eyes

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by David Wyatt

Contre mon gré l'atrait de tes beaux yeux

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Contre mon gré l'atrait de tes beaus yeus
Donte mon cœur, mais quand je te veus dire
Quell'est ma mort, tu ne t'en fais que rire,
Et de mon mal tu as le cœur joïeus.

Puis qu'en t'aimant je ne puis avoir mieus,
Soufre du moins que pour toi je soupire:
Assés et trop ton bel oeil me martire,
Sans te moquer de mon mal soucieus.

Moquer mon mal, rire de ma douleur,
Par un dedain redoubler mon malheur,
Haïr qui t'aime, et vivre de ses pleintes,

Rompre ta foi, manquer [de]¹ ton devoir,
Cela, cruelle, [et]² n'est-ce pas avoir
Tes mains de sang, et d'homicide teintes?

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• G. Boni

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Boni: "à"
² Boni: "hé"

Text Authorship:

by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), appears in Les Amours (1553), no. 2, first published 1553 [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), "Contre mon gré l'atrait de tes beaux yeux", published 1607 [ vocal quartet ], from Sonnets de Pierre de Ronsard mis en musique à 4 parties, II, no. 10, Paris, Pierre Ballard [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in French (Français), [adaptation] ; composed by François Regnard.
- Go to the text.
Also set in French (Français), [adaptation] ; composed by Louis Théodore Gouvy.
- Go to the text.

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (David Wyatt) , "Against my wish", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 107

Against my wish

Language: English after the French (Français)

Against my wish, the attraction of your lovely eyes
Tames my heart, but when I want to say to you
That it is my death too, you do nothing but laugh
And in my pain your heart rejoices.

As in loving you I can have no better
At least let me yearn for you
Enough and more suffering your lovely eye brings me
Without you laughing at the pain of my yearning.

Mocking my pain, laughing at my sadness,
Doubling my misfortune by your disdain,
Hating him who loves you, and living for his groans

Breaking your word, failing to do what you should -- 
All this, cruel one, [isn't]¹ it like having
Blood on your hands, stained by murder?

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Boni: "oh isn't"

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2012 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), appears in Les Amours (1553), no. 2, first published 1553
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2012-05-22
Line count: 14
Word count: 119