Quand vous serez vieille et grise et pleine de sommeil

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)

Translation © by Pierre Mathé

The Pilgrim Soul

(Sung text for setting by G. Bachlund)

See original

Language: English

Our translations: CHI FRE GER HUN ITA

When you are old and gray and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false and true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

 ...

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-2 of the original text.

Composition:

Gary Bachlund

Text Authorship:

by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "When you are old", appears in The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics, appears in The Rose, first published 1892

See other settings of this text.

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

CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Walter A. Aue) , "Wenn Du alt bist", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Tamás Rédey) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Quando ormai sarai vecchia, e grigia e sonnolenta", copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Garth Baxter

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 102

Quand vous serez vieille et grise et...

(Sung text translation for setting by G. Bachlund)

See original

Language: French (Français) after the English

Quand vous serez vieille et grise et pleine de sommeil,
Et dodelinerez près du feu, prenez ce livre,
Et lisez lentement, et rêvez au regard doux
Qu'avaient jadis vos yeux, et à leur ombre profonde ;

Combien ont aimé vos moments de grâce bienheureuse,
Et aimèrent votre beauté, d'un amour vrai et feint,
Mais un seul homme a aimé en vous l'âme voyageuse,
Et aimé la tristesse sur votre visage changeant ;

 ...

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-2 of the original text.

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2016 by Pierre Mathé, (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 English by William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939), "When you are old", appears in The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics, appears in The Rose, first published 1892
- Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view

This text was added to the website: 2016-01-04
Line count: 12
Word count: 102