When my eye amuses itself with eyeing you | When my eye amuses itself with eyeing you

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by David Wyatt

Lors que mon oeil pour t’oeillader...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Lors que mon oeil pour t’oeillader s’amuse,
Le tien habile à ses traits descocher,
Par sa vertu m’en-pierre en un rocher
Comme un regard d’une horrible Meduse:

Moi donc, rocher, si dextrement je n’use
L’outil des Soeurs pour ta gloire esbaucher,
Qu’un seul Tuscan est digne de toucher,
Non le changé mais le changeur accuse.

Las, qu’ay-je dit ? dans un roc emmuré,
En te blasmant je ne suis assuré,
Tant j’ay grand peur des flammes de ton ire,

Et que mon chef par le feu de tes yeux
Soit diffamé, comme les monts d’Epire
Sont diffamez par la foudre des Cieux.

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), "Lors que mon œil pour t'œillader s'amuse", published 1608 [vocal quartet], from the collection Sonnets de Pierre de Ronsard mis en musique à 4 parties, I, no. 15, Paris, Pierre Ballard [
text verified 1 time
]

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

ENG English (David Wyatt) , title 1: "When my eye amuses itself with eyeing you", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: David Wyatt

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 101

When my eye amuses itself with eyeing you

Language: English after the French (Français)

When my eye amuses itself with eyeing you,
Yours, skilful at shooting its darts
By its power turns me to stone
Like a glance of a terrible Medusa.

If then I, a rock, do not so skilfully use
To sketch your glory that tool of the Sisters
Which one Tuscan alone is worthy to touch,
Not the man changed but she who changed him must take the blame.

Ah, what have I said? walled up in rock,
In reprimanding you I have not covered myself,
Such great fear do I have of the flames of your ire,

Fear too that I shall be vilified by the fire
Of your eyes, as the mounts of Epirus
Are vilified by the lightning of Heaven.

Note: "the Sisters" are the Muses and "the Tuscan" is Petrarch.

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: 122