Si mille oeillets, si mille liz j'embrasse,
Entortillant mes bras tout à l'entour,
Plus fort qu'un cep, qui d'un amoureux tour
La branche aimée, en mille plis enlasse :

Si le soucy ne jaunist plus ma face,
Si le plaisir fait en moy son le jour,
Si j'aime mieux les Ombres que le jour,
Songe divin, ce bien vient de ta grâce.

Suyvant ton vol je volerois aux cieux :
Mais son portrait qui me trompe les yeux,
Fraude tousjours ma joye entre-rompue.

Puis tu me fuis au milieu de mon bien,
Comme un éclair qui se finist en rien,
Ou comme au vent s'évanouyt la nuë.

About the headline (FAQ)

View text with all available footnotes
Leguerney uses modernized spelling, for example:
liz -> lis
soucy -> souci
jaunist -> jaunit
moy -> moi
tousjours -> toujours
joye -> joie
entre-rompue -> interrompue
finist -> finit

Text Authorship:

• by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), "Si mille oeillets, si mille liz j'embrasse", appears in Les Amours (1552) [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 André Jolivet (1905 - 1974), "Sonnet de Ronsard", 1929, published 1994 [ vocal trio (or vocal quartet) for female voices a cappella ], Éd. Gérard Billaudot [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jacques Leguerney (1906 - 1997), "Si mille œillets", 1943, published 1944 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Vol. I, no. 6, Paris, Salabert [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in French (Français), [adaptation] ; composed by Florent Schmitt.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• ENG English (David Wyatt) , "If a thousand pinks", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-06-01
Line count: 14
Word count: 113