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by René-François Sully-Prudhomme (1839 - 1907)

Les Yeux
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Bleus ou noirs, tous aimés, tous beaux,
Des yeux sans nombre ont vu l'aurore ;
Ils dorment au fond des tombeaux,
Et le soleil se lève encore.

Les nuits, plus douces que les jours,
Ont enchanté des yeux sans nombre ;
Les étoiles brillent toujours,
Et les yeux se sont remplis d'ombre.

Oh ! qu'ils aient perdu le regard,
Non, non, cela n'est pas possible !
Ils se sont tournés quelque part
Vers ce qu'on nomme l'invisible ;

Et comme les astres penchants
Nous quittent, mais au ciel demeurent,
Les prunelles ont leurs couchants,
Mais il n'est pas vrai qu'elles meurent.

Bleus ou noirs, tous aimés, tous beaux,
Ouverts à quelque immense aurore,
De l'autre côté des tombeaux
Les yeux qu'on ferme voient encore.

View text with all available footnotes

Text Authorship:

  • by René-François Sully-Prudhomme (1839 - 1907), "Les Yeux", appears in Stances et Poèmes, in 1. Stances, in La Vie intérieure, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1866 [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 Louis Aubert (1877 - 1968), "Les Yeux", 1900, published 1909 [ medium voice and piano ], from Douze Chants, no. 7, Paris, Édition Durand [sung text not yet checked]
  • by René-Félix Brancour (1862 - 1948), "Les Yeux", op. 69, published 1914 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Germain Desbonnet (1938 - 2007), "Les Yeux", 1985?, published 1985 [ high voice and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 13, Éd. du compositeur [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Octave Fouque (1844 - 1883), "Les Yeux", published [1879] [ medium voice and piano ], from Dix mélodies pour chant, no. 7, Paris, Éd. G. Hartmann [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Edmond Missa (1861 - 1910), "Les Yeux", published 1909 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. L. Grus et Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Émile Paladilhe (1844 - 1926), "Les Yeux", 1887 [ high voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Émile Pessard (1843 - 1917), "Les Yeux" [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • ENG English (Peter Low) , "Eyes", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2013-12-10
Line count: 20
Word count: 120

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