Although, a great wrong, it pleases you to light

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by David Wyatt

Bien qu’à grand tort il te plaist...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Bien qu’à grand tort il te plaist d’allumer
Dedans mon coeur, siège à ta seigneurie,
Non d’une amour, ainçois d’une Furie
Le feu cruel pour mes os consumer,
 
L’aspre tourment ne m’est point si amer,
Qu’il ne me plaise, et si n’ay pas envie
De me douloir,  car je n’aime ma vie,
Sinon d’autant qu’il te plaist de l’aimer.
 
Mais si les cieux m’ont faict naistre, Madame,
Pour estre tien, ne gesne plus mon ame,
Mais prends en gré ma firme loyauté.
 
Vaut-il pas mieux en tirer du service,
Que par l’horreur d’un cruel sacrifice
L’occire aux pieds de ta fière beauté ?

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title [author's text not yet checked 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 Anthoine de Bertrand (1540? - 1581?), "Bien qu’à grand tort il te plaist d’allumer", 1576, published 1578 [ vocal quartet a cappella ], from Les Amours de Pierre de Ronsard à 4 parties, Livre 1, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Pierre Certon (c1510 - 1572), "Bien qu’à grand tort il te plaist d’allumer" [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (David Wyatt) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: David Wyatt

This text was added to the website: 2014-10-25
Line count: 14
Word count: 103

Although, a great wrong, it pleases you...

Language: English after the French (Français)

Although, a great wrong, it pleases you to light
Within my heart, the seat of your rule,
Not the fire of love, so much as the cruel fire
Of a Fury, to consume my bones:
 
That harsh torment is in no way so bitter
That it does not please me, and I even wish
To be unhappy;  for I do not love my life
Except so far as you please to love it.
 
But if Heaven had me born, my Lady,
To be yours, no longer trouble my soul
But willingly accept my fixed loyalty.
 
Is it not worth more to take its service
Than through the horror of a brutal sacrifice
To slay it at the feet of your proud beauty ?

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2014 by David Wyatt, (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 Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2014-10-25
Line count: 14
Word count: 123