Since I put my lips to your still full cup

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by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)

Translation © by Amy Pfrimmer

Puisque j'ai mis ma lèvre

(Sung text for setting by R. Hahn)

See original

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT ENG RUS

Puisque j'ai mis ma lèvre à ta coupe encore pleine;
Puisque j'ai sur ton front posé mon front pâli;
Puisque j'ai respiré parfois la douce haleine
De ton âme, parfum dans l'ombre enseveli;

Puisqu'il me fut donné de t'entendre me dire
Les mots où se répand le coeur mystérieux;
Puisque j'ai vu pleurer, puisque j'ai vu sourire
Ta bouche sur ma bouche et tes yeux sur mes yeux;

 ... 

Je puis maintenant dire aux rapides années:
- Passez! passez toujours! je n'ai plus à vieillir!
Allez-vous-en avec vos fleurs toutes fanées;
J'ai dans l'âme une fleur que nul ne peut cueillir!

Votre aile en le heurtant ne fera rien répandre
Du vase où je m'abreuve et que j'ai bien rempli.
Mon âme a plus de feu que vous n'avez de cendre!
Mon coeur a plus d'amour que vous n'avez d'oubli!

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-2,4-5 of the original text.

Composition:

Reynaldo Hahn

Mélodies - 2ème volume

Text Authorship:

by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), no title, written 1835, appears in Les Chants du Crépuscule, no. 25, Paris, Éd. L. Hachette, first published 1857

See other settings of this text.

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Amy Pfrimmer) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
RUS Russian (Русский) (Elena Kalinina) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 172

Since I put my lips

(Sung text translation for setting by R. Hahn)

See original

Language: English after the French (Français)

Since I put my lips to your still full cup; 
Since I have placed my pale forehead in your hands;
Since I sometimes breathed the sweet breath of your soul, 
perfume buried in the shadow;

Since it was given to me to hear you say to me 
the words in which the mysterious heart spreads;
Since I have seen tears, since I saw your mouth smile 
on my mouth and your eyes on my eyes;

 ... 

I can now say to the swift years: 
"Pass away! Always! I no longer have to grow old!
Go away with your faded flowers; 
I have in my soul a flower that no one can pick!”

If your wing strikes it - it will not spill anything 
from the vase where I drink and have well-filled.
My soul has more fire than you have ashes! 
My heart has more love than you have oblivion!

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-2,4-5 of the original text.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2019 by Amy Pfrimmer, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), no title, written 1835, appears in Les Chants du Crépuscule, no. 25, Paris, Éd. L. Hachette, first published 1857
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This text was added to the website: 2019-07-04
Line count: 20
Word count: 181