Homage to Eric Satie | Mrs. Henri Rousseau

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by Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963)

Translation © by Laura Prichard

Hommage à Eric Satie

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: 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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Text Authorship:

by Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963), written 1916 [author's text not yet checked 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 Georges Auric (1899 - 1983), "Hommage à Eric Satie", 1917?8, published 1919 [ medium voice and piano ], from Huit poèmes de Jean Cocteau, no. 1, Paris, E. Demets [sung text checked 1 time]

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.

Text 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
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2016-04-14
Line count: 20
Word count: 89