by Joachim du Bellay (1525 - c1560)
Translation © by Grant Hicks

Le vrai amour
 (Sung text for setting by D. Milhaud)
 See original
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG ENG
Le vrai amour naît du premier regard
Et ne veut point se façonner par art:
Et c'est pourquoi ces moitiés séparées,
Étant jadis dans le monde égarées,
Se retrouvant si bien se rejoignaient,
Que jamais plus elles ne s'éloignaient.

Composition:

    Set to music by Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974), "Le vrai amour", op. 409 no. 1 (1964), published 1966 [ soprano and piano ], from L'amour chante, no. 1, Bryn Mawr, Theodore Presser and Co.

Text Authorship:

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

  • ENG English (David Jonathan Justman) , no title, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 122
Word count: 839

Language: English  after the French (Français) 
True love is born of the first glance
And has no wish to be shaped by art:
And this is why these separated halves, 
Formerly set adrift in the world, 
Reunited so perfectly when they met
That they were never again parted.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (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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Based on:

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This text was added to the website: 2026-06-01
Line count: 122
Word count: 906