by
Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)
Seule en ta sombre tour aux faîtes...
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
Seule en ta sombre tour aux faîtes dentelés,
D'où ton souffle descend sur les toits ébranlés,
Ô cloche suspendue au milieu des nuées,
Par ton vaste roulis si souvent remuées,
Tu dors en ce moment dans l'ombre, et rien ne luit
Sous ta voûte profonde où sommeille le bruit!
Oh! Tandis qu'un esprit qui jusqu'à toi s'élance,
Silencieux aussi, contemple ton silence,
Sens-tu, par cet instinct vague et plein de douceur
Qui révèle toujours une soeur à la soeur
Qu'a cette heure où s'endort la soirée expirante,
Une âme est près de toi, non moins que toi vibrante,
Qui bien souvent aussi jette un bruit solennel,
Et se plaint dans l'amour comme toi dans le ciel!
About the headline (FAQ)
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) , 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: 14
Word count: 116
Alone in your dark, jaggedly crenelated...
Language: English  after the French (Français)
Alone in your dark, jaggedly crenelated tower,
From where your breath descends to the shattered roofs,
Oh bell, suspended among those clouds [which are]
So often disturbed by your long tolling,
You sleep for a moment in the shadows, and nothing shines
In your deep belfry where sound sleeps!
Oh! Right now a spirit soars up to you,
Also silent, contemplating your silence;
Do you sense, by a vague and kind instinct
Which reveals one sister to another
That at this hour when the evening is dying away,
One soul is close to you, no less vibrant than you are,
Who very often also makes a solemn sound,
And laments in love as you do in heaven!
About the headline (FAQ)
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:
This text was added to the website: 2016-05-16
Line count: 14
Word count: 117