To Cupid | Day pushes night

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by Faith J. Cormier

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, 
and dark night
pushes gleaming day
with dark shades.

Autumn follows Summer
and the winds
no longer rage
after the storm.

But the love fever
that torments me
burns in me
forever unabated. 

I'm not the one 
you should have aimed at, god.
Your arrow should have
had another target.

Go after the lazy
and amuse them,
not me or 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 © 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.
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:
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Word count: 68