Maîtrise | Je ne voudrais pas qu'un dieu vînt

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by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933)

Translation © by Pierre Mathé

Mastery

Language: English

Our translations: FRE

I would not have a god come in
To shield me suddenly from sin,
And set my house of life to rights;
Nor angels with bright burning wings
Ordering my earthly thoughts and things;
Rather my own frail guttering lights
Wind blown and nearly beaten out;
Rather the terror of the nights
And long, sick groping after doubt;
Rather be lost than let my soul
Slip vaguely from my own control --
Of my own spirit let me be
In sole though feeble mastery.

Confirmed with Sara Teasdale, Love Songs, New York, The Macmillan Company, 1917, page 48.

Text Authorship:

by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933), "Mastery", appears in Love Songs, in 2. Interlude: Songs out of Sorrow, no. 2, first published 1917 [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 John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "Mastery", 1967 [ mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Songs Out of Sorrow, Six Songs for Mezzo-soprano, no. 2, Southern/Texas [sung text not yet checked]

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

FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Maîtrise", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-02-13
Line count: 13
Word count: 83

Maîtrise

Language: French (Français) after the English

Je ne voudrais pas qu'un dieu vînt
Pour me protéger soudain du péché,
Et mettre la maison de ma vie en ordre ;
Ni des anges aux ailes flamboyantes
Mettant en ordre mes pensées et objets terrestres ;
Plutôt mes propres fragiles lumières vacillantes
Malmenées par le vent et presque étouffées ;
Plutôt la terreur des nuits
Et un long et dégoûtant tâtonnement dans le doute ;
Plutôt être perdue que de laisser mon âme
Glisser vaguement hors de mon propre contrôle.
De mon propre esprit, laissez-moi avoir
Seule la maîtrise, si faible soit-elle.

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2015 by Pierre Mathé, (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 English by Sara Teasdale (1884 - 1933), "Mastery", appears in Love Songs, in 2. Interlude: Songs out of Sorrow, no. 2, first published 1917
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-10-13
Line count: 13
Word count: 90