J'ai senti un enterrement dans ma tête

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Translation © by Guy Laffaille

I felt a funeral in my brain

(Sung text for setting by A. Copland)

See original

Language: English

Our translations: CAT FRE GER GER ITA

I felt a funeral in my brain,
  And mourners, to and fro,
Kept treading, treading, till it seemed
  That sense was breaking through.

And when they all were seated,
  A service like a drum
Kept beating, beating, till I thought
  My mind was going numb.

And then I heard them lift a box,
  And creak across my soul
With those same boots of lead, again.
  Then space began to toll

As all the heavens were a bell,
  And Being but an ear,
And I and silence some strange race,
  Wrecked, solitary, here.

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-4 of the original text.

Note: a later edition removes the word "again" from stanza 3, line 3 and adds the following stanza to the end:

And then a plank in reason, broke,
And I dropped down and down —
And hit a world at every plunge,
And finished knowing — then —

Composition:

Aaron Copland

Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson

Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems: Third Series, in 4. Time and Eternity, no. 30, first published 1896

See other settings of this text.

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Vaig sentir un funeral al meu cap", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2008, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 92

J'ai senti un enterrement dans ma tête

(Sung text translation for setting by A. Copland)

See original

Language: French (Français) after the English

J'ai senti un enterrement dans ma tête
Et les amis du défunt allaient et venaient
Continuaient à marcher, jusqu'à ce qu'il me semble
Que ma raison s'en allait.

Et quand ils s'étaient tous assis
Un office comme un tambour
Continuer de battre, de battre jusqu'à ce que je pense
Que mon esprit devenait paralysé.

Et puis je les ai entendus soulever une boîte
Et traverser mon âme en grinçant
Avec encore ces mêmes bottes de plomb
Puis l'espace a sonné le glas

Comme si tous les cieux étaient une cloche
Et l'existence n'était qu'une oreille
Et moi et le silence une étrange race
Échouée solitaire ici.

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: the text above is taken from stanzas 1-4 of the original text.

Note: here is a translation of the stanza added to the end in a later edition:

Et puis une planche dans ma raison se brisa
Et je tombai, tombai --
Et heurtai un monde, à chaque plongée,
Et finis d'être consciente -- alors --

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2008 by Guy Laffaille, (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 Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, appears in Poems: Third Series, in 4. Time and Eternity, no. 30, first published 1896
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This text was added to the website: 2008-11-09
Line count: 16
Word count: 106