by Charles Le Goffic (1863 - 1932)

Language: French (Français) 
Je compare vos yeux à ces claires fontaines
Où les astres d’argent et les étoiles d’or
Font miroiter, la nuit, des flammes incertaines.

Vienne à glisser le vent sur leur onde qui dort,
Il faut que l’astre émigre et que l’étoile meure,
Pour renaître, passer, luire et s’éteindre encor.

Si cruels maintenant, si tendres tout à l’heure,
Vos beaux yeux sont pareils à ces flots décevants,
Et l’amour ne s’y mire et l’amour n’y demeure

Que le temps d’un reflet sous le frisson des vents.

Note provided by Mark Pearse: in stanza 2, line 1, Jongen's printed score replaces the original word 'glisser', with 'passer'. I feel this is probably a typesetters error - his distracted eye skipping ahead from 'glisser' to similar word 'passer' two lines below. I absolve Jongen of this error since I am sure his artistic sense would not have tolerated the uncomfortable effect of using 'passer' twice in the same stanza.

Composition:

    Set to music by Joseph Jongen (1873 - 1953), "Vos Yeux", W 80 (1895), published 1896 [ baritone or mezzo-soprano and piano ], Brussels Conservatoire Library states the setting was published by Rud. Ibach Sohn, [s.a.] (the german piano maker).The score has the annotation ‘Supplément à la “LIBRE CRITIQUE” ’
        Score: score at Brussels Conservatoire of Music [external link]

Text Authorship:

See other settings of this text.


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Mark Pearse [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2023-03-13
Line count: 10
Word count: 85