L'hiver bat la vitre et le toit.
        Il fait bon dans la chambre,
A part cette sale odeur d'ambre
        Et de plaisir. Mais toi,

Les roses naissent sur ta face
        Quand tu ris près du feu...
Ce soir tu me diras adieu,
        Ombre, que l'ombre efface.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Paul-Jean Toulet, Les contrerimes, Paris: Emile-Paul Frères, 1923, page 22.

Note: Garno (also garni) is a slang term for furnished lodgings.

Text Authorship:

• by Paul-Jean Toulet (1867 - 1920), "Le Garno", appears in Les Contrerimes, in Contrerimes, no. 12, Paris, Éd. Le Divan, first published 1921 [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Louis Beydts (1896 - 1953), "L'hiver bat la vitre et le toit", 1945, published 1946 [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ], from d’Ombre et de soleil, no. 5, Éd. Durand [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (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: 2014-06-13
Line count: 8
Word count: 46