Alas I neither wish to nor can escape | Alas I neither wish to nor can escape

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by David Wyatt

Las, je ne veux ny me puis déffaire

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Las, je ne veux ny me puis déffaire
De ce beau Reth où Amour me tient pris
Et puis que j’ay tel voyage entrepris
Je veux mourir ou je le veux parfaire.

J’oy la raison qui me dit le contraire,
Et qui retient la bride à mes espris :
Mais j’ay le cœur de voz yeux si épris
Que d’un tel mal je ne me puis distraire.

Tay toy, raison, on dit communement
« Belle fin fait que meurt en bien aymant. »
De telle mort je veux suivre la trace.

Ma foy resemble au rocher endurcy,
Qui sans avoir de l’orage soucy,
Plus est batu et moins changé de place.

About the headline (FAQ)

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 Guillaume Boni (c1530 - c1594), "Las, je ne veux ny ne me puis déffaire", published 1608 [vocal quartet], from the collection Sonnets de Pierre de Ronsard mis en musique à 4 parties, I, no. 12, Paris, Pierre Ballard [
text verified 1 time
]

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

ENG English (David Wyatt) , title 1: "Alas I neither wish to nor can escape", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: David Wyatt

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 110

Alas I neither wish to nor can escape

Language: English after the French (Français)

Alas I neither wish to nor can escape
From this fair net in which Love holds me imprisoned,
And since I have undertaken this journey
I wish either to die, or to complete it.

I hear Reason telling me not to,
And pulling back on the bridle of my spirit;
But my heart is so in love with your eyes
That I cannot be diverted by such troubles.

Be quiet, Reason ! People commonly say
«He dies well, who dies from love.»
I wish to follow in the steps of such a death!

My fidelity resembles that of a solid rock
Which, careless of the storm,
The more it is battered the less it is moved.

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: 2015-02-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 115