Ballad to the moon | It was, in the dark night

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by Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857)

Translation © by Barbara Miller

Ballade à la lune

(Sung text for setting by C. Chaminade)

See original

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

C'était, dans la nuit brune,
Sur le clocher jauni,
  		La lune
Comme un point sur un i.

Lune, quel esprit sombre
Promène au bout d'un fil,
  		Dans l'ombre,
Ta face et ton profil ?

Es-tu l'œil du ciel borgne ?
    Quel chérubin cafard
  		Nous lorgne
Sous ton masque blafard ?

N'es-tu rien qu'une boule,
Qu'un grand faucheux bien gras
		   Qui roule
Sans pattes et sans bras ?

Es-tu, je t'en soupçonne,
Le vieux cadran de fer
		   Qui sonne
L'heure aux damnés d'enfer ?

Sur ton front qui voyage.
Ce soir ont-ils compté
		   Quel âge
A leur éternité ?

Est-ce un ver qui te ronge
Quand ton disque noirci
		   S'allonge
En croissant rétréci ?

Qui t'avait éborgnée,
L'autre nuit ? T'étais-tu
		   Cognée
A quelque arbre pointu ?

Car tu vins, pâle et morne
Coller sur mes carreaux
		   Ta corne
à travers les barreaux.

Va, lune moribonde,
Le beau corps de Phébé
		   La blonde
Dans la mer est tombé.

Tu n'en es que la face
Et déjà, tout ridé,
		   S'efface
Ton front dépossédé.

 ... 

Comme un ours à la chaîne, 
Toujours sous tes yeux bleus
		   Se traîne
L'océan montueux.

Et qu'il vente ou qu'il neige
Moi-même, chaque soir,
		   Que fais-je,
Venant ici m'asseoir ?

Je viens voir à la brune,
Sur le clocher jauni,
		   La lune
Comme un point sur un i.

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-11,23-25 of the original text.

Composition:

Cécile Chaminade

Text Authorship:

by Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857), "Ballade à la lune", appears in Premières poésies

See other settings of this text.

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

ENG English (Barbara Miller) , "Ballad to the moon", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Ballada na měsíc"
HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (Árpád Tóth) , "A hold balladája"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 100
Word count: 364

Ballad to the moon

(Sung text translation for setting by C. Chaminade)

See original

Language: English after the French (Français)

It was, in the dark night,
On the yellowed steeple,
The moon,
Like a dot on an i.

Moon, what dark spirit
Walks at the end of a leash
Through the gloom,
Your face and your profile?

Are you the one-eyed heavens' single eye?
Which bigoted cherub
Peers at us
Beneath your pale mask?

Are you merely a ball?
A big fat daddy-long-legs
That rolls, that rolls
Without legs and arms?




































Give us back the huntress,
Diana with the virginal breast,
Who chases relentlessly
Some morning stag!





















Phoebe who, after dark
On a shepherd's lips
Alights,
Like a delicate bird.

Moon, in our memory,
Of your fair loves
The story
Will always make you more beautiful..

And ever restored to youth,
You shall by the passer-by
be blessed,
Full moon or crescent.






The sailor will love you
In his great ship,
Floating
Beneath the clear sky!











And, come wind or snow,
Myself, each evening,
What do I do,
Coming here to sit?

I come to see at dusk,
On the yellowed steeple,
The moon, the moon
Like a dot on an i.

 ... 

 ... 

 ...

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-11,23-25 of the original text.

Note: this is a translation of the Lalo setting.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2005 by Barbara Miller, (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 Louis Charles Alfred de Musset (1810 - 1857), "Ballade à la lune", appears in Premières poésies
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This text was added to the website: 2005-08-06
Line count: 44
Word count: 182