by Herbert Allen Giles (1845 - 1935)
Translation by Henri Pierre Roché (1879 - 1959)
The poet
Language: English after the Chinese (中文)
You ask what my soul does away in the sky, I inwardly smile but I cannot reply; Like the peach-blossom carried away by the stream, I soar to a world of which you cannot dream.
Confirmed with Chinese Poetry in English Verse by Herbert Giles, London: Bernard Quaritch; Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh, Ltd., 1898, p. 73.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Text Authorship:
- by Herbert Allen Giles (1845 - 1935), "The poet", appears in Chinese Poetry in English Verse, first published 1898 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), a translation by Henri Pierre Roché (1879 - 1959) , first published 1907 ; composed by Georges Auric, Ferdinand Barlow.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Bertram Kottmann , "Der Poet", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission ; composed by Gary Bachlund.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2014-02-08
Line count: 4
Word count: 35
Vous demandez pourquoi mon âme s'en va...
Language: French (Français) after the English
Vous demandez pourquoi mon âme s'en va au ciel, Je souris intérieurement et je ne puis répondre. Comme la fleur de hicher emhortee har le ruisseau Je glisse vers un monde que la rive ne peut rêver
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Text Authorship:
- by Henri Pierre Roché (1879 - 1959), first published 1907 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in English by Herbert Allen Giles (1845 - 1935), "The poet", appears in Chinese Poetry in English Verse, first published 1898
Based on:
- a text in Chinese (中文) by Li-Tai-Po (701 - 762) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Georges Auric (1899 - 1983), "Vous demandez pourquoi mon âme s'en va au ciel", 1913 [ medium voice and piano ], from Quatorze [sic] poèmes chinois [Huit en réalité], no. 5 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ferdinand Barlow (1881 - 1951), "Comme la fleur de pêcher", published 1926 [ voice and piano ], from Trois poèmes chinois, no. 2, Paris, Éd. Max Eschig [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2025-04-26
Line count: 4
Word count: 37