Alas, would to God I'd never nibbled | Alas, would to God I'd never nibbled

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by David Wyatt

Las ! pleut à Dieu

(Sung text for setting by G. Boni)

See original

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Las ! Pleust à Dieu n'avoir jamais tasté
Si follement le tetin de m'amie!
Sans ce malheur, l'autre plus grande envie
Jamais, helas! ne m'eust le coeur tenté

Comme un poisson, pour s'estre trop hasté
Par un appast, suit la fin de sa vie,
Ainsi je vais où la mort me convie,
D'un beau tetin doucement apasté.

Qui eust pensé que le cruel destin
Eust enfermé sous un si beau tetin
Un si grand feu, pour m'en faire la proye?

Avisez donc quel seroit le coucher
Entre ses bras, puis qu'un simple toucher
De mille morts sans joüir me foudroye!

Composition:

Guillaume Boni

Sonnets de Pierre de Ronsard mis en musique à 4 parties, I

Text Authorship:

by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

See other settings of this text.

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

ENG English (David Wyatt) , "Alas, would to God I'd never nibbled", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: David Wyatt

This text was added to the website: 2012-06-23
Line count: 14
Word count: 102

Alas, would to God I'd never nibbled

(Sung text translation for setting by G. Boni)

See original

Language: English after the French (Français)

Alas, would to God I'd never nibbled
So madly my lady's nipple!
Without that mistake, the other still greater desire
Would never, alas, have entered my heart.

Like a fish, which too hasty
For the bait hurries to the end of its life,
So I am going where death takes me
Sweetly baited by that lovely nipple.

Who would have thought that cruel fate
Would have enclosed beneath so lovely a nipple
So great a fire to make me its prey?

Beware, then, what would happen when lying
In her arms, since one little touch
Without any enjoyment obliterates me with a thousand deaths.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2012 by David Wyatt, (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 Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
- Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view

This text was added to the website: 2012-06-23
Line count: 14
Word count: 108