Par l'ample mer, loin des ports et arènes
Language: French (Français)
Par l'ample mer, loin des ports et arènes
S'en vont nageant les lascives sirènes
En déployant leurs chevelures blondes,
Et de leurs voix plaisantes et sereines,
Les plus hauts mâts et plus basses carènes
Font arrêter aux plus mobiles ondes,
Et souvent perdre en tempêtes profondes ;
Ainsi la vie, à nous si délectable,
Comme sirène affectée et muable,
En ses douceurs nous enveloppe et plonge,
Tant que la Mort rompe aviron et câble,
Et puis de nous ne reste qu'une fable,
Un moins que vent, ombre, fumée et songe.
Text 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 (David Wyatt) , "In the open sea, far from ports and beaches", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2011-03-11
Line count: 13
Word count: 89
In the open sea, far from ports and beaches
Language: English after the French (Français)
In the open sea, far from ports and beaches
Go swimming the lascivious sirens
Spreading their blond hair
And with their pleasant, calming voices
Making the highest masts and the deepest keels
Pause on fast-moving waves
And often be lost in powerful storms ;
Just so life, so pleasing to us,
Affected and changeable like a siren,
Envelops us in its sweetness and drowns us
Until Death breaks the oar and cable
And then nothing remains of us but a tale,
Something less than wind, shade, smoke and dream.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2017 by David Wyatt, (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: 2017-06-10
Line count: 13
Word count: 88