I wouldn't know how to love any but you | I wouldn't know how to love any but you

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by Faith J. Cormier

Je ne saurois aymer autre que vous

(Sung text for setting by J. Castro)

See original

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG ENG

  Je ne saurois aimer autre que vous,
Non, Dame, non, je ne saurois le faire:
Autre que vous ne me sauroit complaire,
Et fust Venus descendue entre nous.
   Vos yeus me sont si gracieus et dous,
Que d'un seul clin ils me peuvent defaire,
D'un autre clin tout soudain me refaire,
Me faisans vivre ou mourir en deux coups.
 ...

Note: the text above is taken from lines 1-8 of the original text.

Composition:

Jean de Castro

Text Authorship:

by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title, appears in Continuation des Amours, no. 28, first published 1555

See other settings of this text.

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

ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "I wouldn't know how to love any but you", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (John Glenn Paton) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: John Glenn Paton [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 103

I wouldn't know how to love any but you

(Sung text translation for setting by J. Castro)

See original

Language: English after the French (Français)

 I wouldn't know how to love any but you,
 no, Lady, never.
 No one but you could please me,
 even if Venus herself came down among us.
 I find your eyes so gracious and sweet
 that with one blink they unman me.
 Another, and I'm whole again.
 I live or die between the two.
 ...

Note: the text above is taken from lines 1-8 of the original text.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Faith J. Cormier, (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.
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Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title, appears in Continuation des Amours, no. 28, first published 1555
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This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 55