Elle me dit: "Quelque chose
"Me tourmente." Et j'aperçus
Son cou de neige, et, dessus,
Un petit insecte rose.
J'aurais dû, - mais, sage ou fou,
A seize ans, on est farouche, -
Voir le baiser sur sa bouche
Plus que l'insecte à son cou.
On eût dit un coquillage;
Dos rose et taché de noir.
Les fauvettes pour nous voir
Se penchaient dans le feuillage.
Sa bouche fraîche était là;
Je me courbai sur la belle,
Et je pris la coccinelle;
Mais le baiser s'envola.
"Fils, apprends comme on me nomme,"
Dit l'insecte du ciel bleu,
"Les bêtes sont au bon Dieu;
"Mais la bêtise est à l'homme."
Available sung texts: (what is this?)
• G. Bizet View text with all available footnotes
Text Authorship:
Go to the general view
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 108
She told me: "Something
Is bothering me." And I noticed
Her snow-white neck, and, upon it,
A small reddish insect.
I should have - but wise or mad,
At sixteen, one is timid --
I should have noticed the kiss on her mouth
More than the insect on her neck.
It looked like a shell,
Its back red and spattered with black.
To see us better, warblers
Stretched out their necks in the branches.
Her sweet mouth was there;
I bent over the beautiful girl,
And I removed the ladybug,
But the kiss flew away!
"Son, learn what they call me,"
The insect said from the blue sky,
"Animals belong to the Good Lord,
But Idiocy belongs to Man."
