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Dans les jardins d'hiver, des fleuristes bizarres Sèment furtivement des végétaux haineux, Dont les tiges bientôt grouillent comme les nœuds Des serpents assoupis aux bords boueux des mares. Leurs redoutables fleurs, magnifiques et rares, Où coulent de très lourds parfums vertigineux, Ouvrent avec orgueil leurs vases vénéneux. La mort s'épanouit dans leurs splendeurs barbares. Leurs somptueux bouquets détruisent la santé Et c'est pour en avoir trop aimé la beauté Qu'on voit dans les palais languir les blanches reines. Et moi, je vous ressemble, ô jardiniers pervers ! Dans les cerveaux hâtifs où j'ai jeté mes graines, Je regarde fleurir les poisons de mes vers.
Confirmed with Iwan Gilkin, La nuit, Paris: Librairie Fischbacher, 1897, page 48.
Note (provided by Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit): Sorabji probably completed this song, but so far the only known page of this manuscript includes the beginning of the poem up to the fifth word of line 5.
Text Authorship:
- by Iwan Gilkin (1858 - 1924), "Le mauvais jardinier", appears in La nuit [author's text checked 2 times 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 Kaikhosru Sorabji (1892 - 1988), "Le mauvais jardinier", KSS 11a (1919), published 2006, first performed 2011 [ voice and piano ], partially lost; Bath, The Sorabji Archive; critical edition [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Charles Hopkins) , "The Evil Gardener", written 2002, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Charles Hopkins) , "The Malevolent Gardener", written <<2006?, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2015-09-07
Line count: 14
Word count: 103
In the winter gardens of bizarre florists Malign plants spread stealthily, Plants whose teeming stems soon become entwined, Like drowsy snakes on the muddy edges of ponds. Their fearsome flowers, unusual and magnificent, From which stream heavily-scented, intoxicating fragrances, Proudly offer up their bowls of venomous blossom. Death blooms in their savage splendour. Their sumptuous aromas ruin one’s health And it is through having indulged too much in their beauty That pallid queens are to be seen languishing in their palaces. And as for me, I am just like you, perverse gardeners! In the precocious minds where I have cast my seeds, I watch the poison of my poetry flourish.
Confirmed with an original Microsoft Word Document provided by Alistair Hinton.
Text Authorship:
- by Charles Hopkins (1952 - 2007), "The Malevolent Gardener", written <<2006?, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Iwan Gilkin (1858 - 1924), "Le mauvais jardinier", appears in La nuit
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Another version of this text exists in the database.
Researcher for this page: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2018-08-05
Line count: 14
Word count: 110