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La mer est infinie et mes rêves sont fous. La mer chante au soleil en battant les falaises Et mes rêves légers ne se sentent plus d'aise De danser sur la mer comme des oiseaux soûls. Le vaste mouvement des vagues les emporte, La brise les agite et les roule en ses plis ; Jouant dans le sillage, ils feront une escorte Aux vaisseaux que mon cœur dans leur fuite a suivis. Ivres d'air et de sel et brûlés par l'écume De la mer qui console et qui lave des pleurs Ils connaîtront le large et sa bonne amertume ; Les goélands perdus les prendront pour des leurs.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Jean de La Ville de Mirmont, L’Horizon chimérique, Recueil posthume, Éd. Société Littéraire de France, 1920.
Text Authorship:
- by Jean de La Ville de Mirmont (1886 - 1914), no title, written 1911-12, appears in L'horizon chimérique, no. 13, Éd. Société Littéraire de France, first published 1920 [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), "La mer est infinie", op. 118 no. 1 (1921), published 1922 [ baritone and piano ], from L'horizon chimérique, no. 1, Paris, Éd. Durand & Cie [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "El mar és infinit", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Shawn Thuris) , "The sea is endless", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Nele Gramß) , "Das Meer ist unendlich", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Didier Pelat
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 106
The sea is endless and my dreams are mad. The sea sings to the sun, lashing the cliffs, And my flighty dreams taste only of the pleasure Of dancing over the sea like drunken birds. The vast motion of the waves carries them, The breeze shakes and tumbles them in the folds; Playing in the wake, they form an escort To the ships my heart has followed in their flight. Wild with air and salt and scalded by the foam Of a sea that consoles and washes tears away, They will know the ocean and its good bitterness; Stray gulls will take them for their own.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by Shawn Thuris, (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.
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Jean de La Ville de Mirmont (1886 - 1914), no title, written 1911-12, appears in L'horizon chimérique, no. 13, Éd. Société Littéraire de France, first published 1920
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 106