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by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)

La mer est plus belle
 (Sung text for setting by C. Debussy)
 Matches original text
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG GER SPA
La mer est plus belle
Que les cathédrales,
Nourrice fidèle,
Berceuse de râles,
La mer qui prie
La Vierge Marie !

Elle a tous les dons
Terribles et doux.
J'entends ses pardons
Gronder ses courroux.
Cette immensité
N'a rien d'entêté.

O! si patiente,
Même quand méchante !
Un souffle ami hante
La vague, et nous chante :
« Vous sans espérance,
Mourez sans souffrance ! »

Et puis sous les cieux
Qui s'y rient plus clairs,
Elle a des airs bleus.
Roses, gris et verts...
Plus belle que tous,
Meilleure que nous !

Composition:

    Set to music by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "La mer est plus belle", L. 85/(81) no. 1 (1891), published 1891 [ voice and piano ], from Trois mélodies, no. 1, Paris, Hamelle

Text Authorship:

  • by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), no title, written 1880, appears in Sagesse, in Sagesse III, no. 15, Paris, Société générale de Librairie catholique, Éd. Victor Pamé, first published 1881

See other settings of this text.

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

  • ENG English (Emily Ezust) , copyright © 2018
  • GER German (Deutsch) (Nele Gramß) , "Das Meer ist schöner", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 89

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