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... « Ô divin Époux, mon Seigneur, ne refusez pas la confession de la plus humble de vos servantes. Je suis perdue. Je suis soûle. Je suis impure. Quelle vie ! « Pardon, divin Seigneur, pardon ! Ah ! pardon ! Que de larmes ! Et que de larmes encore plus tard, j'espère ! « Plus tard, je connaîtrai le divin Époux ! Je suis née soumise à Lui. -- L'autre peut me battre maintenant ! « À présent, je suis au fond du monde ! Ô mes amies !… non, pas mes amies… Jamais délires ni tortures semblables… Est-ce bête ! « Ah ! je souffre, je crie. Je souffre vraiment. Tout pourtant m'est permis, chargée du mépris des plus méprisables cœurs. ... « Je suis esclave de l'Époux infernal, celui qui a perdu les vierges folles. C'est bien ce démon-là. Ce n'est pas un spectre, ce n'est pas un fantôme. Mais moi qui ai perdu la sagesse, qui suis damnée et morte au monde, -- on ne me tuera pas ! -- Comment vous le décrire ! je ne sais même plus parler. Je suis en deuil, je pleure, j'ai peur. Un peu de fraîcheur, Seigneur, si vous voulez, si vous voulez bien ! « Je suis veuve… -- J'étais veuve… -- mais oui, j'ai été bien sérieuse jadis, et je ne suis pas née pour devenir squelette !… -- Lui était presque un enfant… Ses délicatesses mystérieuses m'avaient séduite. J'ai oublié tout mon devoir humain pour le suivre. Quelle vie ! La vraie vie est absente. Nous ne sommes pas au monde. Je vais où il va, il le faut. Et souvent il s'emporte contre moi, moi, la pauvre âme. Le Démon ! -- C'est un Démon, vous savez, ce n'est pas un homme. ...
Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 2-6,8-9 of the original text.
Note: this is a prose text; the line breaks are arbitrary.
Composition:
- Set to music by Jean Barraqué (1928 - 1973), "L'époux infernal", stanzas 2-6,8-9 [ voice and piano ], from Trois mélodies, no. 3
Text Authorship:
- by Arthur Rimbaud (1854 - 1891), "L'époux infernal", appears in Une saison en enfer, in Délires, in 1. Vierge folle
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "The infernal bridegroom", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2017-09-06
Line count: 187
Word count: 1423
... Oh divine Bridegroom, my Lord, do not refuse the confession of the lowest of your handmaids. I am lost. I am drunk. I am impure. What a life! Forgive me, divine Lord, forgive, ah forgive! What a lot of tears! And many more tears later on, I hope! Later I will come to know the divine Bridegroom! I was born enslaved to Him! The other one can beat me at present! Now I am at the bottom of the world! Oh my women friends!... No, not my friends... Never were there such ravings and tortures... It's so stupid! Ah, I'm in pain, I cry out. I'm really suffering. And yet everything is permitted me, as I am burdened with the contempt of the most contemptible hearts. ... I am a slave of the infernal Bridegroom, the one who ruined the foolish virgins. He is the demon in question. He is not a ghost, not a phantom. But I who have lost my wisdom, who am damned and dead to the world, I will not be killed!... How can I describe him, I can't even speak now. I am in mourning, in tears, frightened. A little coolness, Lord, if you will, if you would be so kind! I am a widow… I was a widow… but yes, I used to be quite proper, and I was not born to become a skeleton!… He was almost a child… His mysterious tenderness had seduced me. I forgot all my human duty to follow him. What a life! True life is absent. We are not in the world. I go where he goes, I have to. And often he loses his temper with me, poor soul that I am. The Demon… He's a Demon, y ou know, he is not a man. ...
Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 2-6,8-9 of the original text.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2017 by Peter Low, (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 Arthur Rimbaud (1854 - 1891), "L'époux infernal", appears in Une saison en enfer, in Délires, in 1. Vierge folle
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2017-09-12
Line count: 187
Word count: 301