by
Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
La calamité
Language: French (Français)
Les feux du bivouac illuminent le ciel.
La neige alourdit les étendards glacés.
Les cavaliers galopent dans la campagne.
Le général en chef a reçu la tablette d'ivoire
et pris congé de l'Empereur.
Voici revenu le temps oú le moindre guerrier
est plus considéré qu'un illustre lettré !
Voici revenu le temps oú les mères
et les épouses s'endorment, chaque soir,
le visage tourné vers l'Est !
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• M. Ponce View text with all available footnotes
Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade : poésies chinoises, Paris: H. Piazza, 1926, page 74.
Text Authorship:
Go to the general view
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust
[Administrator] , Grant Hicks
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2010-08-29
Line count: 10
Word count: 67
Language: English after the French (Français)
The fires of the encampment light up the sky.
The snow weighs down the frozen banners.
The horsemen gallop in the fields.
The commanding general has received the ivory tablet
and been granted leave by the Emperor.
The time has come again when the humblest warrior
is more highly regarded than the most renowned scholar.
The time has come again when mothers
and wives go to sleep, every night,
with their faces turned towards the East.
View text with all available footnotes
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (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.
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Based on:
Go to the general view
This text was added to the website: 2026-04-27
Line count: 10
Word count: 78
