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Je mettrai mes deux mains sur ma bouche, pour taire Ce que je voudrais tant vous dire, âme bien chère! Je mettrai mes deux mains sur mes yeux, pour cacher Ce que je voudrais tant que pourtant vous cherchiez. Je mettrai mes deux mains sur mon coeur, chère vie, Pour que vous ignoriez de quel coeur je vous prie! Et puis je les mettrai doucement dans vos mains, Ces deux mains-ci qui meurent d'un fatigant chagrin!... Elles iront à vous, pleines de leur faiblesse, Toutes silencieuses et même sans caresse, Lasses d'avoir porté tout le poids d'un secret Dont ma bouche, et mes yeux et mon front parleraient. Elles iront à vous, légères d’être vides, Et lourdes d’être tristes, tristes d’être timides; Malheureuses et douces et si découragées Que peut-être, mon Dieu, vous les recueillerez!...
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Jean Dominique, L'Anémone des Mers, Paris: Société du Mercure de France, 1906, pages 81-82.
Text Authorship:
- by Marie Closset (1873 - 1952), as Jean Dominique, no title, written 1904, appears in L'Anémone des Mers. Poèmes, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1906 [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 Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Le don silencieux", op. 92 (1906), published 1906 [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Gabriel Grovlez (1879 - 1944), "Le don silencieux", 1911, published 1912, first performed 1912 [ medium voice and piano ], from Trois mélodies sur des poèmes de Jean Dominique, no. 2, Paris, Édition Durand [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "El regal silenciós", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English [singable] (Peter Low) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Garrett Medlock) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 135
I will place my hands on my mouth, oh my dear, to not say what I hope you will hear. I will place my hands on my eyes not to show the truth I so much want you to know. I will place my hands on my heart, concealing how quickly it beats, with what feeling! Then in your hands I will gently place mine, these two weary hands that weaken and pine. Then you will feel them silent and unmoving, pale and so in need of holding and loving, tired of bearing the secret's heavy load that my mouth, eyes and heart have not disclosed. Yes, you will feel them gentle, shy and still and wan, weighed down with sadness, yet strangely empty and light, so deeply discouraged, so woe-begone that perhaps you (ah!) at last will clasp them tight.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translation of title "Le don silencieux" = "Silent offering"Text Authorship:
- Singable translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2015 by Peter Low, (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.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Marie Closset (1873 - 1952), as Jean Dominique, no title, written 1904, appears in L'Anémone des Mers. Poèmes, Paris, Éd. du Mercure de France, first published 1906
This text was added to the website: 2015-10-26
Line count: 16
Word count: 141