by
Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963)
Hommage à Eric Satie
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
Madame Henri Rousseau
monte en ballon captif
Elle tient un arbrisseau
Et le douanier Rousseau
prend son apéritif
L'aloès gonflé de lune
Et l'arbre à fauteuils
Et ce beau costume
Et la belle lune
Sur les belles feuilles
Le lion d'Afrique
Son ventre gros comme un sac
Au pied de la République
Le lion d'Afrique
Dévore le cheval de fiacre
La lune entre dans la flûte
Du charmeur noir
Yadwigha endormie écoute
Et il sort de la douce flûte
Un morceau en forme de poire.
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Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "Homage to Eric Satie", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 85
Homage to Eric Satie
Language: English  after the French (Français)
Mrs. Henri Rousseau
rises in a tethered balloon
She holds a shrub
And the customs officer Rousseau
drinks his aperitif
The aloe swollen with moon
And the armchair tree
And that nice suit
And the beautiful moon [shining]
On the beautiful leaves
The African lion
His stomach as big as a sack
At the foot of the Republic
The lion of Africa
Devours the carriage horse
The moon enters the flute
Of the dark snake-charmer
Yadwigha, while asleep, listens
And out of the sweet flute comes
A pear-shaped bit.
Translator's note for line 4-3: "Yadwigha" - This locates the poem as a depiction of Rousseau’s painting
La Rêve, which depicts the painter’s Polish mistress Yadwigha (from his youth) lying naked on a divan, surrounded by jungle motifs and enertained by a snake charmer.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Prichard, (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 Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963), written 1916
This text was added to the website: 2016-04-14
Line count: 20
Word count: 89