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Ton âme est un lac d'amour
Dont mes désirs sont les cygnes.
Vois comme ils en font le tour,
Comme ils y creusent des lignes !
Voyageurs aventureux
Ils vont, les ailes ouvertes.
Rien n'est ignoré par eux,
Des flots bleus aux îles vertes.
Bruyants et pompeux, les uns
Sont d'un blanc que rien n'égale,
Désirs nés dans les parfums
Par un soleil de Bengale.
Les autres, muets et noirs,
Ont comme un air de mystère,
Désirs nés pendant les soirs,
Où tout s'endort sur la terre.
Sans nombre sont ces oiseaux
Que ton âme voit éclore.
Combien déjà sur les eaux,
Et combien à naître encore !
Ton âme est un lac d'amour
Dont mes désirs sont les cygnes.
Vois comme ils en font le tour
de ton âme!
...
Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-5 of the original text.
Composition:
- Set to music by Reynaldo Hahn (1874 - 1947), "Les Cygnes", 1893/1894, published 1894, stanzas 1-5 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies - 1er volume, no. 15, Paris, Éd. Heugel
Text Authorship:
- by Armand Renaud (1836 - 1895), "Les Cygnes", written 1870, appears in Les nuits persanes, in 6. La vallée de l'union, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1870
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Stanfield Prichard) , "The Swans", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Ted Perry
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 170
Your soul is a lake of love
In which my desires are swans.
See how they make the rounds,
As they create wakes behind them!
Adventurous explorers
They advance, their wings outspread.
Nothing is ignored by them,
From blue waves to green islands.
Noisy and bombastic, each
Possess a whiteness without equal,
Desires born into the redolence
Of a Bengali sun.
The others, mute and black,
The others, mute an air of mystery,
Desires born during the evenings,
Where the whole earth drifts off to sleep.
Innumerable are these birds
Which your soul may see hatching.
How many already on the waters,
And how many are yet to be born!
Your soul is a lake of love
Whole deepest desires are swans.
See how they make the rounds
of your soul!
...
Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-5 of the original text.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2024 by Laura Stanfield Prichard, (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.
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Armand Renaud (1836 - 1895), "Les Cygnes", written 1870, appears in Les nuits persanes, in 6. La vallée de l'union, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1870
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This text was added to the website: 2024-04-24
Line count: 32
Word count: 178