To Cupid | Day pushes night before it

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by David Jonathan Justman

À Cupidon

(Sung text for setting by J. Leguerney)

See original

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG ENG ENG

Le jour pousse la nuit
  Et la nuit sombre
Pousse le jour qui luit
  D'une obscure ombre.

L'Automne suit l'Été
  Et l'âpre rage
Des vents n'a point été
  Après l'orage.

Mais la fièvre d'amours
  Qui me tourmente
Demeure en moi toujours
  Et ne s'alente.

Ce n'était pas moi, Dieu,
  Qu'il fallait poindre;
Ta flèche en d'autre lieu
  Se devait joindre.

Poursuis les paresseux
  Et les amuse,
Mais non pas moi, ni ceux
  Qu'aime la Muse...

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-5 of the original text.

Note: A five-stanza version of this poem exists with a different third stanza:

Mais le mal nonobstant 
D'amour dolente 
Demeure en moi constant 
Et ne s'alente.

Composition:

Jacques Leguerney

Poèmes de la Pléiade, Vol. III

Text Authorship:

by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), "À Cupidon"

See other settings of this text.

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

ENG English (David Jonathan Justman) , "To Cupid", copyright © 2002, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "To Cupid", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Laura Claycomb) , "To Cupid", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-02
Line count: 60
Word count: 217

To Cupid

(Sung text translation for setting by J. Leguerney)

See original

Language: English after the French (Français)

Day pushes night before it
And somber night
Pushes day, Which glows
With a dark shadow.

Autumn follows Summer
And the winds' bitter rage
Never existed, 
once the storm is over.

But the fever of love
Which torments me
Remains in me always
And never lets up.

It wasn't me, God, 
who needed to be stung;
Your arrow 
should have hit someplace else.

Pursue the lazy
And amuse them,
But not me, not those
Who love the muse...

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-5 of the original text.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2002 by David Jonathan Justman, (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 Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), "À Cupidon"
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This text was added to the website: 2003-11-02
Line count: 20
Word count: 78