Reviens, reviens, ma bien-aimée !
Comme une fleur loin du soleil,
La fleur de ma vie est fermée,
Loin de ton sourire vermeil.

Entre nos cœurs [tant de]1 distance ;
[Tant]2 d'espace entre nos baisers.
Ô sort amer ! ô dure absence !
Ô grands désirs inapaisés !

D'ici là-bas que de campagnes,
Que de villes et de hameaux,
Que de vallons et de montagnes,
À lasser le pied des chevaux !

Au pays qui me prend ma belle,
Hélas ! si je pouvais aller ;
Et si mon corps avait une aile
Comme mon âme pour voler !

Par-dessus [les]3 vertes collines,
Les montagnes au front d'azur,
Les champs rayés et les ravines,
J'irais d'un vol rapide et sûr.

Le corps ne suit pas la pensée;
Pour moi, mon âme, va tout droit,
Comme une colombe blessée,
[T'abattre]4 au rebord de son toit.

Descends dans sa gorge divine,
Blonde et fauve comme de l'or,
Douce comme un duvet d'hermine,
Sa gorge, mon royal trésor ;

[Et]5 dis, mon âme, à cette belle :
[« Tu sais bien qu'il compte les jours !
Ô ma colombe ! à tire d'aile,
Retourne au nid de nos amours. »]6

G. Bizet sets stanzas 1, 2, 4-6, 8
E. Tessier sets stanzas 1, 2, 4-6, 8
H. Berlioz sets stanzas 1-3
F. David sets stanzas 1-5, 8-9
J. Depret sets stanzas 1, 2, 6, 8 in (at least) one setting - see below for more information
L. Kreutzer sets stanzas 1-3
G. Sarreau sets stanzas 1-2, 4-6, 8
P. Lacôme d'Estalenx sets stanzas 1-2, 4-5, 6, 8

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Théophile Gauthier, La comédie de la mort, Desessart editeur, Paris, 1838, page 283.

¹ Berlioz: "quelle"
² David: "Que"
³ Bizet, Lavigne: "nos"
⁴ Berlioz, Pedrell: "S'abbatre"
⁵ David: "Ah !"
⁶ Lavigne:

« Ô ma colombe ! à tire d'aile,
Retourne au nid de nos amours. 
Tu sais bien qu'il compte les jours ! »

Text Authorship:

• by Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872), "Absence", written 1838, appears in La Comédie de la Mort, Paris, Éd. Desessart, first published 1838 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Georges Albert Baudoüin (1841 - 1890), "Absence", published 1889-1896 [ high voice and piano ], from Six mélodies, no. 3, Éd. Mackar & Noël [sung text not yet checked]
• by Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869), "Absence", op. 7 no. 4 (1840), stanzas 1-3 [ voice and orchestra or piano ], from Les Nuits d'Été, no. 4, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875), "Absence", op. 21 no. 13 (1872), published 1873, stanzas 1,2,4-6,8 [ soprano and piano ], from Vingt mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 13, Paris, Choudens [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Émile Bourgeois (1849 - 1922), "Reviens, ma bien-aimée", published [1889] [ high voice and piano ], from Six mélodies, no. 4, Ed. H. Tellier [sung text not yet checked]
• by Montserrat Campmany i Cortés (1901 - 1995), "L'absence", 1921 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
• by Auguste Charles Cœdès (1840 - 1884), "L'absence - Romance", published 1875 [ soprano and piano ], from Soirées d'automne, no. 1, Paris, A. Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
• by Paul Combes , "Absence", published 1899 [ high voice and piano ], from 2 Mélodies, no. 1, Bordeaux, Henri Riffeau [sung text not yet checked]
• by Arthur Coquard (1846 - 1910), "Absence", published <<1881 [ high voice and piano ], from 12 Mélodies pour chant avec accompagnement de piano, no. 9, Éd. Léon Escudier [sung text not yet checked]
• by Paul-Charles-Marie Curet (1848 - 1917), as Paul Puget, "Absence", published 1884 [ medium voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, Vol. 2, no. 12, Paris, Éd. Henry Lemoine [sung text not yet checked]
• by Félicien César David (1810 - 1876), "Reviens! Reviens!", 1845?, published 1846, stanzas 1-5,8-9 [ high voice and piano ], from Les perles d'Orient, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Joseph Depret , "Reviens, reviens !", published 1888, stanzas 1,2,6,8 [ high voice and piano ], from [21] Mélodies pour chant avec accompagnement de piano, no. 2, Paris, H. Tellier [sung text not yet checked]
• by Joseph Depret , "Absence", published 1887 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Sept mélodies, no. 4, Paris, H. Tellier [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charlotte Devéria, née Thomas (1856 - 1885), "Absence", published 1877 [ tenor or soprano and piano ], from 16 Mélodies pour chant avec accompagnement de piano, no. 11, Paris [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alberto Ghislanzoni (1892 - 1984), "Absence", published 1927 [ high voice and piano ], Rome, Edizione Musicale Arminoa [sung text not yet checked]
• by Manuel Giró (1848 - 1916), "Absence", 1878, published 1878-1880 [ voice and piano ], from Tras los montes - Nouvelles mélodies espagnoles, no. 14, Paris, Heugel & fils [sung text not yet checked]
• by Lucien Hillemacher (1860 - 1909) and by Paul Hillemacher (1852 - 1933), "Reviens, ma bien-aimée !", published 1889 [ voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, vol. 2, no. 16, Paris, A. Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
• by Léon Charles François Kreutzer (1817 - 1868), "Absence", published 1847, stanzas 1-3 [ high voice and piano ], from 26 mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 12, Paris, Richault [sung text not yet checked]
• by Louis (Trouillon) Lacombe (1818 - 1884), "Absence" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Paul-Jean-Jacques Lacôme d'Estalenx (1838 - 1920), "Absence", published [1867], stanzas 1-2,4-5,6,8 [ voice and piano ], from Six nouvelles mélodies, no. 2, Paris, Éd. "Au Ménestrel" Henri Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles Lefebvre (1843 - 1917), "Absence", published c1873 [ voice and piano ], from Six poésies mises en musique, no. 3, Paris, G. Hartmann [sung text not yet checked]
• by John Parrott , "Absence", subtitle: "Barcarolle", published 1889 [ voice and piano ], Paris, H.-A. Tellier [sung text not yet checked]
• by Édouard Pascal , "Absence - Reviens, reviens, ma bien-aimée", published 1874 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from 25 Morceaux de chant, 2^ème recueil, no. 18, Imprimerie de Arony [sung text not yet checked]
• by Felipe Pedrell (1841 - 1922), "Absence", published 1877 [ high voice and piano ], from Consolations - 12 Mélodies sur des poésies de Théophile Gautier, no. 9, Milan: Francesco Lucca [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Émile Pessard (1843 - 1917), "Absence", published 1891 [ voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, no. 12, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jules Philipot (1824 - 1897), "Absence", op. 130, published 1874 [ high voice and piano ], from Poèmes et Chants, Poésies de Théophile Gautier, no. 18, Paris, Léon Grus [sung text not yet checked]
• by Albert Renaud (1855 - 1924), "Absence" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gaston Sarreau (1850 - 1935), "L'Absence", <<1882, stanzas 1-2,4-6,8 [ tenor and piano ], Paris, G. Hartmann [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ernest Tessier (1851 - 1909), as Ernest Lavigne, "Absence", published 1901, stanzas 1,2,4-6, 8 [ medium voice and piano ], Montreal, S. Park [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Jacques-Michel Zoubaloff (1876 - 1941), "Absence", copyright © 1925 [ medium voice and piano ], from Quatre poésies de Théophile Gautier, no. 1, from Mélodies, no. 3, Paris, Léon Grus (QPdTG) ; and Éd. Maurice Senart (M) [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in English, a translation by Theodore Baker (1851 - 1934) ; composed by Arthur Hyde.
  • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
    
• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874) , "Trennung" [an adaptation] ; composed by Hector Berlioz.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English [singable] (Samuel Byrne) , "Absence"
• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , copyright © 2015
• GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Enrico Magnani) , "Assenza", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 190

Return, return, my beloved!
Like a flower far from the sun,
The flower of my life is shut,
Far from your rosy smile!

Between our hearts such distance!
Such space between our kisses!
O bitter destiny! O harsh absence! 
O great, unappeasable desires!

Between here and there what lands,
What cities and hamlets,
What valleys and montains,
To exhaust the feet of horses!

To the land that has taken my love
Ah! if only I could go;
If only my body had wings
With which to fly, like my soul!

Over [the]1 green hills,
Over mountains with azure brows,
Over scraped fields and ravines,
I would go in rapid and secure flight.

The body does not obey the thought;
For me, my soul goes straight ahead
And, like a wounded dove,
Collapses upon the edge of her roof.

Lower yourself onto that divine bosom,
As lovely and burnished as gold, 
As soft as an ermine duvet,
Her bosom, my royal treasure;

And say, my soul, to this beauty:
"You know well that he is counting the days!
O my dove! Take flight
And return to the nest of our loves."