by Maurice Bouchor (1855 - 1929)
Translation © by Faith J. Cormier

Nos souvenirs
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  CAT ENG
Nos souvenirs, toutes ces choses
Qu'à tous les vents nous effeuillons
Comme des pétales de roses
Ou des ailes de papillons,

Ont d'une joie évanouie
Gardé tout le parfum secret,
Et c'est une chose inouïe
Comme le passé reparait.

A de certains moments il semble 
Que le rêve dure toujours
Et que l'on soit encore ensemble
Comme au temps des défunts amours ;

Pendant qu'à demi l'on sommeille, 
Bercé par la vague chanson
D'une voix qui charme l'oreille, 
Sur les lèvres voltige un nom.

Et cette heure où l'on se rappelle
Son cœur follement dépensé,
Est comme un frissonnement d'aile
Qui s'en vient du joyeux passé.

Text 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):

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Els nostres records", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "Our memories", copyright © 2014, (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: 20
Word count: 105

Our memories
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
Our memories, all these things 
that we pluck, no matter when, 
like rose petals 
or the wings of butterflies, 

have retained all the secret perfume 
of faded joys. 
And it’s amazing 
how the past reappears. 

Sometimes it feels 
like the dream is still going on 
and that we are still together, 
as we were back in the days of our dead love, 

half asleep, lulled 
by the vague song of a voice 
that charms the ear, 
a name fluttering on the lips. 

And this hour when we remember 
how our heart was foolishly spent 
is like the trembling of a wing 
from the happy past.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2014 by Faith J. Cormier, (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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This text was added to the website: 2014-11-11
Line count: 20
Word count: 105