by Clément Marot (1496 - 1544)
Translation © by Peter Low

Estrene de la rose
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
La belle Rose à Venus consacrée
L'oeil & le Sens de grand plaisir pourvoit;
Si vous diray Dame qui tant m'agrée
Raison pourquoy de rouges on en voit.
Ung jour Venus son Adonis suyvoit
Parmy Jardins pleins d'Espines & Branches,
Les Piedz tous nudz & les deux Bras sans manches,
Dont d'ung Rosier l'Espine luy mesfeit.
Or estoient lors toutes les Roses blanches,
Mais de son sang de vermeilles en feit.

De ceste Rose ay ja faict mon proffit
Vous estrenant, car plus qu'à aultre chose
Vostre Visage en doulceur tout confict
Semble à la fresche & vermeillete Rose.

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):

  • ENG English (Peter Low) , "The Gift of the Rose", copyright © 2001, (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: 14
Word count: 99

The Gift of the Rose
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
 The fair rose, the flower of Venus,
 is a pleasure to see and to smell. 
 And I will tell you, lady,
 the reason why roses are red. 
 Venus one day was following Adonis
 with bare feet and uncovered arms
 through gardens full of thorns and branches,
 when the thorn of a rose-bush scratched her. 
 At that time all roses were white,
 but her blood made some of them crimson. 
 
 Now I've made good use of this rose
 as a gift to you, because your face,
 which is utterly gentle and sweet, resembles
 more than anything a fresh red rose.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2001 by Peter Low, (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: 14
Word count: 100