The Downcast Face | Stay like that, bent over your heart

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by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Le visage penché

(Sung text for setting by L. Aubert)

See original

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Reste ainsi, penchée sur ton cœur.
Tes paupières sont deux pétales de clématite
Que l’été aurait pâlies,
et je ne vois de tes lèvres qu’une longue framboise.

Reste ainsi. Une mèche de tes cheveux
a glissé sur ton front, comme une hirondelle apprivoisée
se poserait sur un coffret d’ivoire,
et je ne sais si ce poudroiement vermeil est ta joue.

La clématite s’est repliée :
pourquoi m’as-tu regardé ?
L’hirondelle s’est envolée :
pourquoi as-tu refoulé ta mèche ?
La framboise s’est déchirée :
pourquoi m’as-tu souris ?

Composition:

Louis Aubert

Six poèmes arabes

Text Authorship:

by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "Le visage penché", appears in Le jardin des caresses, no. 111, Paris, Éd. H. Piazza, first published 1911

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "The Downcast Face", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2022-05-02
Line count: 13
Word count: 80

The Downcast Face

(Sung text translation for setting by L. Aubert)

See original

Language: English after the French (Français)

Stay like that, bent over your heart.
Your pupils are two petals of clematis
That summer has faded,
and all I see of your lips is a long raspberry.

Stay like that. A lock of your hair
Has slipped across your forehead, as a tame swallow 
might alight on an ivory box,
and I don't know if this rosy dusting is your cheek.

The clematis has closed up:
why did you look at me?
The swallow has taken wing:
why did you brush back your hair?
The raspberry has burst open:
why did you smile at me?

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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "Le visage penché", appears in Le jardin des caresses, no. 111, Paris, Éd. H. Piazza, first published 1911
- Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view

This text was added to the website: 2026-03-25
Line count: 13
Word count: 92