My pen knows no other subject but you | My pen knows no other subject but you

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by David Wyatt

Ma plume sinon vous ne sçait autre sujet

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Ma plume sinon vous ne sçait autre sujet,
Mon pied sinon vers vous ne sçait autre voyage
Ma langue sinon vous ne sçait autre langage,
Et mon oeil ne connoit que vous pour son objet.
Si je souhaite rien, vous estes mon souhait,
Vous estes le doux gain de mon plaisant dommage,
Vous estes le seul but où vise mon courage,
Et seulement en vous tout mon rond se parfait.
Je ne suis point de ceux qui changent de fortune.
[Puis que je n'ay qu'une coeur, je]¹ n'en puis aimer qu'une :
Cette une m'en vaut cent. Las ! je vous aime mieux
Que mon coeur ny que moy, et plustost que de faire
Chose qui peut en rien nostre amitié deffaire,
J'aimerois mieux mourir, tant j'aime voz beaux yeux !

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• J. de Maletty

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Maletty: "Comme un tas d'amoureux je"

Text Authorship:

by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title [author's text checked 1 time 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 Jean de Maletty (flourished 16th century), "Ma plume sinon vous ne sçait autre sujet" [vocal quartet], note: only one voice-part currently exists [
text verified 1 time
]

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

ENG English (David Wyatt) , title 1: "My pen knows no other subject but you", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: David Wyatt

This text was added to the website: 2015-01-14
Line count: 14
Word count: 129

My pen knows no other subject but you

Language: English after the French (Français)

My pen knows no other subject but you,
My foot knows no other path but to you,
My tongue knows no other language than you,
My eye recognises no other object than you.
Yet I desire nothing, you are my desire,
You are the sweet payment fro my pleasing troubles,
You are the only goal my courage aims at,
And only in you is my world perfected.
I am by no means one of those whose luck changes.
[Since I have but one heart, I]¹ cannot love more than one lady;
That one is worth a hundred to me. Ah, I love you more
Than my heart or myself, and rather than do
Anything which could in any way damage our love,
I’d much rather die, so much do I love your fair eyes!

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Maletty: "Like heaps of lovers, I"

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2015 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: 2015-01-14
Line count: 14
Word count: 134