by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)
Translation © by Ferdinando Albeggiani

When you are Old
 (Sung text for setting by I. Venables)
 See original
Language: English 
Our translations:  CHI FRE GER HUN ITA
When you are old and gray and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how love hath fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead 
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Composition:

    Set to music by Ian Venables (b. 1955), "When you are Old", op. 38 no. 5 (2006), first performed 2006 [ tenor, clarinet, piano ], from On The Wings of Love, no. 5

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.

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

  • CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Walter A. Aue) , "Wenn Du alt bist", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Tamás Rédey) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Quando ormai sarai vecchia, e grigia e sonnolenta", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Garth Baxter

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 102

Quando ormai sarai vecchia, e grigia e sonnolenta
 (Sung text translation for setting by I. Venables)
 See original
Language: Italian (Italiano)  after the English 
Quando ormai sarai vecchia, e grigia e sonnolenta,
col capo tentennante presso il fuoco, prendi questo libro,
e lentamente leggilo, e sogna del delicato sguardo
che tuoi occhi ebbero un tempo, e delle loro ombre profonde.
 
Quanti amarono i tuoi istanti di grazia lieta,
e  amarono la tua bellezza, con amore falso o sincero!
Ma uno solo amò la tua anima vagabonda,
e amò la pena del tuo viso che muta.
 
Curvati, allora, sui ceppi incandescenti,
e sussurra a te stessa, con tristezza lieve, come l'amore è passato
rapido volando al di là delle montagne
e nascondendo il suo volto in uno sciame di stelle.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to Italian (Italiano) copyright © 2008 by Ferdinando Albeggiani, (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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This text was added to the website: 2008-07-04
Line count: 12
Word count: 105