I lament | I lament with no comfort

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by David Wyatt

Je me lamente

(Sung text for setting by J. Leguerney)

See original

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Je me lamente sans réconfort,
Me souvenant de cette mort
Qui déroba ma douce vie;
Pensant en ses yeux qui soulaient
Faire de moi ce qu'ils voulaient,
De vivre je n'ai plus d'envie...
 ... 
Hélas! où est cette beauté,
Ce Printemps, cette nouveauté,
Qui n'aura jamais de seconde ?
Du ciel tous les dons elle avait ;
Aussi parfaite ne devait
Longtemps demeurer en ce monde...
 ... 
Soit que tu vives près de Dieu
Ou aux champs Elysés, adieu !
Adieu cent fois, adieu, Marie !
Ronsard jamais ne t'oubliera,
Jamais la mort ne déliera
Le nœud où la beauté me lie.

Note: the text above is taken from lines 1-6,37-42,91-96 of the original text.

Note for line 92: in Leguerney's Salabert edition, "Elysés" is spelled "Élysées".

Composition:

Jacques Leguerney

Poèmes de la Pléiade, Vol. I

Text Authorship:

by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), "Stances", appears in Sur la mort de Marie, first published 1578

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

ENG English (David Wyatt) , "I lament", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2004-05-07
Line count: 96
Word count: 541

I lament

(Sung text translation for setting by J. Leguerney)

See original

Language: English after the French (Français)

I lament with no comfort
Recalling the death of this lady
Which has stolen the sweetness of my life;
Thinking of her eyes which used 
To make of me whatever they wanted
I no longer wish to live.
 ... 
Alas, where is that beauty,
That spring, that newness
Which shall never have an equal?
She had all heaven's gifts,
So perfect a being could never
Have lived long in this world.
 ... 
Whether you live near to God
Or in the Elysian Fields, farewell!
Farewell a hundred times, farewell Marie!
Never shall Ronsard forget you
Never shall death loose
The knot in which your beauty binds me.

Note: the text above is taken from lines 1-6,37-42,91-96 of the original text.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2012 by David Wyatt, (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), "Stances", appears in Sur la mort de Marie, first published 1578
- Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view

This text was added to the website: 2012-06-06
Line count: 96
Word count: 588