Death | O Death, you old captain, it is time! Anchors away!

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by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)

Translation © by Ahmed E. Ismail

La Mort

(Sung text for setting by A. Gretchaninov)

See original

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG ENG ITA

Ô Mort, vieux capitaine, il est temps ! levons l'ancre !
Le pays nous ennuie, ô Mort ! Appareillons !
Si le ciel et la mer sont noirs comme de l'encre,
Nos cœurs que tu connais sont remplis de rayons !

Verse-nous ton poison pour qu'il nous réconforte !
Nous voulons, tant ce feu nous brûle le cerveau,
Plonger au fond du gouffre, Enfer ou Ciel, qu'importe ?
Au fond de l'Inconnu pour trouver du nouveau !

Composition:

Aleksandr Tikhonovich Gretchaninov

Цветы зла (Cvety zla) = Les fleurs du mal

Russian (Русский)

Text Authorship:

by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), no title, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 6. La Mort, in 126. Le Voyage, no. 8, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1861

See other settings of this text.

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

CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Goll) , "Cesta VIII"
ENG English (Ahmed E. Ismail) , "Death", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Ahmed E. Ismail) , "Death", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Stefan George) , no title, appears in Die Blumen des Bösen, in Der Tod, in Die Reise, no. 8
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Morte, mio vecchio capitano...", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
RUS Russian (Русский) (Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva) , no title

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 8
Word count: 70

Death

(Sung text translation for setting by A. Gretchaninov)

See original

Language: English after the French (Français)

O Death, you old captain, it is time! Anchors away!
This land bores us, o Death! Let us now take flight!
If sky and sea are ink-black as night after day,
Our hearts that you know so well are filled with light!

Pour out your poison - that it comfort us we dare!
To quench our mind aflame, we now shall follow you
Into the abyss. Heaven or hell, do we care?
To the depths of the unknown, to find something new!

Note: Free translation.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2004 by Ahmed E. Ismail, (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 Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), no title, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 6. La Mort, in 126. Le Voyage, no. 8, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1861
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This text was added to the website: 2004-06-06
Line count: 8
Word count: 81