Là ! je me tue à vos genoux !
	Car ma détresse est infinie,
Et la tigresse épouvantable d'Hyrcanie
	Est une agnelle auprès de vous.

	Oui, céans, cruelle Clymène,
	Ce glaive qui, dans maints combats,
Mit tant de Scipions et de Cyrus à bas,
	Va finir ma vie et ma peine !

	Ai-je même besoin de lui
	Pour descendre aux Champs-Élysées ?
Amour perça-t-il pas de flèches aiguisées
	Mon cœur, dès que votre œil m'eut lui ?

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View text with all available footnotes

Confirmed with Paul Verlaine, Fêtes galantes, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1869, pages 11-12.

Note: All ampersands (&) as appear in the first publication are changed to "et".

Text Authorship:

• by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Dans la grotte", appears in Fêtes galantes, no. 6, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1869 [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 Karl Heinrich David (1884 - 1951), "Air d'opéra", op. 79 no. 2, published 1942-1944 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Quatre chants, d'après des poésies de Paul Verlaine, no. 2, Zurich et Leipzig: Hug Frères & Cie. [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Fernand Ochsé (1879 - 1944), "Dans la grotte", 1908, published 1913 [ voice and piano ], from Le Parc, no. 4, Berlin, Fürstner [sung text not yet checked]
• by Kaikhosru Sorabji (1892 - 1988), "Dans la grotte", KSS 37 no. 3 (1924), published 1924 [ voice and piano ], from Trois fêtes galantes de Verlaine, no. 3, London, Curwen [sung text checked 2 times]

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

• ENG English (Charles Hopkins) , written 2002, first published 2002, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Charles Hopkins) , "In the Grotto", written c2005, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 73