Le chat | Il voit un Oiseau, -- il glousse

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by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)

Translation © by Guy Laffaille

She sights a Bird ‑ she chuckles

Language: English

Our translations: FRE GER GER

She sights a Bird - she chuckles -
She flattens - then she crawls -
She runs without the look of feet -
Her eyes increase to Balls -

Her Jaws stir - twitching - hungry -
Her Teeth can hardly stand -
She leaps, but Robin leaped the first -
Ah, Pussy, of the Sand,

The Hopes so juicy ripening -
You almost bathed your Tongue -
When Bliss disclosed a hundred [Toes]¹ -
And fled with every one.

About the headline (FAQ)

View text without footnotes
Confirmed with The Poems of Emily Dickinson, ed. R.W. Franklin, Volume 1, Cambridge, MA and London, England: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998, Poem 351.

¹ In one of the earlier published versions this word was "wings"

Text Authorship:

by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, written c1862, first published 1945 [author's text checked 1 time 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 Derek Healey (b. 1936), "She sights a Bird", op. 146 no. 2 (2015) [ soprano or mezzo-soprano and piano ], from Bianco's Delight: a bakers dozen cat songs, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Julian Philips (b. 1969), "The cat", 1997/2002, published 2007 [ high voice and piano ], from An Amherst Bestiary, no. 9, Peters Edition [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Le chat", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Sharon Krebs) (Maria M. Schnepp) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2014-04-15
Line count: 12
Word count: 67

Le chat

Language: French (Français) after the English

Il voit un Oiseau, -- il glousse --
Il s'aplatit -- puis il rampe --
Il court sans que l'on voie ses pieds --
Ses yeux deviennent des Balles --

Ses Mâchoires -- remuent -- affamées --
Ses Dents peuvent à peine attendre --
Il Saute -- mais le Merle a sauté le premier --
Ah, Minou, du Sable,

Les Espoirs mûrissants, si juteux --
Tu as presque baigné ta Langue --
Quand la Félicité a laissé voir une centaine d'Orteils --
Et s'est envolée avec chacun.

Text Authorship:

Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2017 by Guy Laffaille, (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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in English by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886), no title, written c1862, first published 1945
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2017-09-09
Line count: 12
Word count: 72