Comme la nuit est longue et maussade | Comme la nuit est longue et maussade

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by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)

Translation © by Pierre Mathé

How lang and dreary is the night

Language: Scottish (Scots)

Our translations: FRE

How lang and dreary is the night
 When I am frae my Dearie;
I restless lie frae e'en to morn
 Though I were ne'er sae weary.

Chorus. -- For oh, her lanely nights are lang!
 And oh, her dreams are eerie;
And oh, her window'd heart is sair,
 That's absent frae her Dearie!

When I think on the lightsome days
 I spent wi' thee, my Dearie;
And now what seas between us roar,
 How can I be but eerie?
       For oh, &c.

How slow ye move, ye heavy hours;
 The joyless day how dreary:
It was na sae ye glinted by,
 When I was wi' my Dearie!
       For oh, &c.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• A. Beach • M. White

A. Beach sets stanzas 1, 3-4
M. White sets stanzas 3, 4

About the headline (FAQ)

View text with all available footnotes

Confirmed with Burns, Robert. Poems and Songs, Vol. VI. The Harvard Classics. New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909–14;

Note: the Burns text appears in the White score as if it is a translation of this German text (or vice versa), but although they are both set to the same music, they are unrelated textually.

Glossary:
Eerie = affected with fear or dread
Window'd = widowed
Glinted = passed quickly like a transient gleam

Text Authorship:

by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Song -- How lang and dreary is the night" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 118

Comme la nuit est longue et maussade

Language: French (Français) after the Scottish (Scots)

Comme la nuit est longue et maussade,
  Quand je suis séparée de mon chéri !
Sans repos, je suis allongée du soir au matin
  Et je n'ai jamais été aussi fatiguée.

Refrain.
Ô pour elle les nuits sont longues et solitaires !
  Ô, ses rêves sont épouvantables,
Ô, son cœur veuf est affligé,
  Elle est séparée de son chéri !

Quand je pense aux jours lumineux¹
  Que j'ai passés avec toi, mon chéri,
Et maintenant qu'entre nous rugissent² des mers³,
  Comment ne puis-je être épouvantée ?

Comme vous avancez lentement, heures pesantes !
  Comme ce triste jour est maussade !⁴
Ce n'est pas ainsi que vous brilliez,
  Quand j'étais avec mon chéri !

View text with all available footnotes
A. Beach a mis en musique les strophes 1-3 (sans refrain)
M. White a mis en musique les strophes 2-3

Text Authorship:

Translation from Scottish (Scots) to French (Français) copyright © 2014 by Pierre Mathé, (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 Scottish (Scots) by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Song -- How lang and dreary is the night"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2014-08-04
Line count: 17
Word count: 107