On l’appelle rose de Noël. Une bonne neige pas trop poudreuse et des nuits d’hiver où passe le souffle d’ouest, voilà qui convient à l’ellébore. Inattendues, précieuses, prosternées, mais bien vivantes, les ellébores hivernent. Tant que la neige les charge, elles restent fermées. Toute la plante proclame sa persistance émouvante. Cueillie, ses coquillages sensibles desserreront leurs joints à la tiédeur d’une chambre. Chez moi, vous pouvez dormir le reste de votre sommeil pudique, puis périr, alors que la chaude neige eût pu, ellébore, vous tenir encore en vie.
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Authorship:
- by (Sidonie-Gabrielle) Colette (1873 - 1954), "Ellébore", written 1947, appears in Pour un herbier, Lausanne, Éd. Mermod, first published 1948 [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 Édith Lejet (b. 1941), "Ellébore", 2007 [ high voice and piano ], from L'Herbier de Colette, six compositions pour Soprano et piano, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2017-01-19
Line count: 15
Word count: 88