by
Pierre-Félix Louis (1870 - 1925), as Pierre Louÿs
Les Comparaisons
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG GER
Bergeronnette, oiseau de Kypris, chante
avec nos premiers désirs ! Le corps nouveau
des jeunes filles se couvre de fleurs comme
la terre. La nuit de tous nos rêves approche
et nous en parlons entre nous.
Parfois, nous comparons ensemble nos beautés
si différentes, nos chevelures déjà longues,
nos jeunes seins encore petits, nos pubertés
rondes comme des cailles et blotties sous la
plume naissante.
Hier je luttai de la sorte contre Melanthô
mon aînée. Elle était fière de sa poitrine qui
venait de croître en un mois, et, montrant
ma tunique droite, elle m'avait appelée:
Petite enfant.
Pas un homme ne pouvait nous voir, nous nous
mîmes nues devant les filles, et, si elle
vainquit sur un point, je l'emportai de loin
sur les autres. Bergeronnette, oiseau de
Kypris, chante avec nos premiers désirs!
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Marvin J. Ward) , "Comparisons", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Vergleiche", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Marvin J. Ward
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 135
Comparisons
Language: English  after the French (Français)
Little Sparrow, bird of Kypris, sing with our first desires! The
fresh bodies of the young girls are covered with flowers like the
earth. The night of all our dreams is approaching and we talk of it
amongst ourselves.
Sometimes, we compare together our beauties so different, our hair
already long, our young breasts still small, our puberties round like
quails and hidden under the nascent down.
Yesterday, I fought this way with Melanthô my elder. She was
proud of her breasts which had grown in a month, and, pointing to my
flat tunic, she called me Little Child.
Not a single man could see us, we got naked in front of the girls,
and, if she won on one point, I won by far on the others. Little
Sparrow, bird of Kypris, sing with our first desires!
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Marvin J. Ward, (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.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 139