The Man full of Sufferings | If I suffer, I cannot help it

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by Clément Marot (1496 - 1544)

Translation © by Peter Low

Du confict en douleur

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Si j'ay du mal, maulgré moy je le porte;
Et s'ainsi est qu'aulcun me reconforte,
Son reconfort ma douleur point n'appaise;
Voylà comment je languis en mal aise,
Sans nul espoir de lyesse plus forte.

Et fault qu'ennuy jamais de moy ne sorte,
Car mon estat fut faict de telle sorte,
Dès que fuz né; pourtant ne vous desplaise
     Si j'ay du mal.

Quand je mourray ma douleur sera morte;
Mais ce pendant mon povre cueur supporte
Mes tristes jours en fortune maulvaise,
Dont force m'est que mon ennuy me plaise,
Et ne fault plus que je me desconforte
    Si j'ay du mal.

Text Authorship:

by Clément Marot (1496 - 1544) [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 George Enescu (1881 - 1955), "Du confict en douleur", from Sept Chansons de Clément Marot, no. 7 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Peter Low) , "The Man full of Sufferings", 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: 15
Word count: 105

The Man full of Sufferings

Language: English after the French (Français)

If I suffer, I cannot help it,
and if someone tries to comfort me,
his comfort fails to appease my pain. 
So it is that I pine away in misery
with no hope of an increase in joy. 

It's decreed that anguish can never leave me
for thus my lot was cast
since birth; yet don't be offended
if I suffer. 

When I die my pain will be dead;
but meanwhile my poor heart endures
a sad life lived in ill-fortune,
which compels me to love my own anguish
and forbids me to feel depressed
if I suffer.

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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Clément Marot (1496 - 1544)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 98