Puces, amis, amantes même,
Qu'ils sont cruels ceux qui nous aiment !
Tout notre sang coule pour eux.
Les bien-aimés sont malheureux.
First published in the revue La Phalange no. 24, June 15, 1908, as no. 13 in La Marchande des quatre saisons ou le bestiaire mondain, a collection of 18 poems, and later in Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d'Orphée, Paris, Deplanche, 1911.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Claude Ballif (1924 - 2004), "La Puce", op. 1b no. 16 (1945-48), published 1994 [ voice and piano ], from Le Cortège d’Orphée, no. 16, Édition Durand & Fils [sung text not yet checked]
- by Régis Campo (b. 1968), "La Puce", 2007-08 [ soprano and orchestra or piano ], from Le Bestiaire, no. 7, Éd. Henry Lemoine (piano reduction) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louis Durey (1888 - 1979), "La Puce", op. 17a no. 16 (1919), from Le Bestiaire, no. 16 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963), "La Puce", 1960 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "The flea", copyright © 2016, (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: 4
Word count: 21
Fleas, friends, lovers even,
They are cruel, those who love us!
All our blood flows for them.
The beloved are unhappy.