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Murs, ville, Et port, Asile De mort, Mer grise Où brise La brise, Tout dort. Dans la plaine Naît un bruit : C'est l'haleine De la nuit. Elle brame Comme une âme Qu'une flamme Toujours suit. La voix plus haute Semble un grelot. D'un nain qui saute C'est le galop : Il fuit, s'élance, Puis en cadence Sur un pied danse Au bout d'un flot. La rumeur approche ; L'écho la redit. C'est comme la cloche D'un couvent maudit, Comme un bruit de foule Qui ... tantôt s'écroule, Et tantôt grandit. Dieu ! la voix sépulcrale Des Djinns !— Quel bruit ils font ! Fuyons sous la spirale De l'escalier profond ! Déjà s'éteint ma lampe ; Et l'ombre de la rampe, Qui le long du mur rampe, Monte jusqu'au plafond. ... Cris de l'enfer ! voix qui hurle et qui pleure ! L'horrible essaim, poussé par l'aquilon, Sans doute, ô ciel ! s'abat sur ma demeure. Le mur fléchit sous le noir bataillon. La maison crie et chancelle penchée, Et l'on dirait que, du sol arrachée, Ainsi qu'il chasse une feuille séchée, Le vent la roule avec leur tourbillon ! Prophète ! si ta main me sauve De ces impurs démons des soirs, J'irai prosterner mon front chauve Devant tes sacrés encensoirs ! Fais que sur ces portes fidèles Meure leur souffle d'étincelles, Et qu'en vain l'ongle de leurs ailes Grince et crie à ces vitraux noirs ! Ils sont passés !— Leur cohorte S'envole et fuit, et leurs pieds Cessent de battre ma porte De leurs coups multipliés. L'air est plein d'un bruit de chaînes, Et dans les forêts prochaines, Frissonnent tous les grands chênes, Sous leur vol de feu pliés ! De leurs ailes lointaines Le battement décroît, Si confus dans les plaines, Si faible, que l'on croit Ouïr la sauterelle Crier d'une voix grêle, Ou pétiller la grêle Sur le plomb d'un vieux toit. ... Les Djinns funèbres, Fils du trépas, Dans les ténèbres Pressent leurs pas ; Leur essaim gronde : Ainsi, profonde, Murmure une onde Qu'on ne voit pas. Ce bruit vague Qui s'endort, C'est la vague Sur le bord ; C'est la plainte Presque éteinte D'une sainte Pour un mort. On doute La nuit... J'écoute :— Tout fuit, Tout passe ; L'espace Efface Le bruit.
Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-5,8-11,13-15 of the original text.
Composition:
- Set to music by Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Les Djinns", op. 12, stanzas 1-5,8-11,13-15 [ chorus and orchestra ]
Text Authorship:
- by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), "Les Djinns", appears in Les Orientales, no. 28
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Džinnové"
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "The Jinns", copyright © 2025, (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: 2007-05-09
Line count: 120
Word count: 479
Walls, town, And port, Refuge Of death, Gray sea Where breaks The breeze, All sleeps. On the plain Comes a sound: 'Tis the breath Of the night, With a wail Like a soul By a flame Ever chased. A louder voice Sounds like a bell. A hopping dwarf Gallops along. He flees and leaps, Then in cadence Trips on one foot At the wave's end. The rumor grows near, The echo repeats. Like the sounding bell Of a curst convent, Like a crowd's hubbub That ... now falls away And now swells again. God! The sepulchral voice Of the Jinns! What a sound! Let us flee underneath The deep spiral staircase! Already my lamp fades, And the railing's shadow Creeping along the wall Rises to the ceiling. ... Cries from hell! Voice of screaming and weeping! The horrible swarm, pushed by the North Wind, Surely, O heaven! rains down on my home. The wall bends beneath the black regiment. The house cries out, leaning and tottering, And one would say that, torn out of the soil, Just as it pursues a dry, withered leaf, The wind rolls it along with their whirling! O prophet! If saved by your hand From these unclean fiends of the night I will bow down my shaven brow In front of your sacred censers! Ensure that on these faithful doors Their breath of sparks is extinguished, And that the sharp claws of their wings Scratch in vain at these black windows! They have passed by! — their cohort Takes off and flees, and their feet No longer batter my door With their profusion of blows. The sound of chains fills the air, And in the nearby forests, All the great oak trees tremble, Bent under their fiery flight. The beating of their wings Fades into the distance, So vague above the plains, So weak, that one might think It is a grasshopper Chirping in its thin voice, Or the patter of hail On an old leaden roof. ... The ghastly Jinns, Offspring of death, In the shadows Hurry their steps; Their swarm rumbles: Thus, in the depths, Murmurs a wave That can't be seen. This vague sound, Ebbing now, Is the wave On the shore; 'Tis the plaint Nearly stilled Of a saint For the dead. One doubts At night... I hark: — All flees, All fades; And space Bestills The sound.
Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-5,8-11,13-15 of the original text.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), "Les Djinns", appears in Les Orientales, no. 28
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This text was added to the website: 2025-10-22
Line count: 120
Word count: 528