Pluie
Language: French (Français)
Il pleut. J'entends le bruit égal des eaux;
Le feuillage, humble et que nul vent ne berce,
Se penche et brille en pleurant sous l'averse;
Le deuil de l'air afflige les oiseaux.
La bourbe monte et trouble la fontaine,
Et le sentier montre à nu ses cailloux.
Le sable fume, embaume et devient roux;
L'onde à grands flots le sillonne et l'entraîne.
Tout l'horizon n'est qu'un blême rideau;
La vitre tinte et ruisselle de gouttes;
Sur le pavé sonore et bleu des routes
Il saute et luit des étincelles d'eau.
Le long d'un mur, un chien morne à leur piste,
Trottent, mouillés, de grands boeufs en retard;
La terre est boue et le ciel est brouillard;
L'homme s'ennuie: oh ! que la pluie est triste !
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 (Michael Berridge) , "Rain", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Malcolm Wren
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2018-01-16
Line count: 16
Word count: 124
Rain
Language: English after the French (Français)
The rain falls. I hear the steady beat of the rain;
the foliage, modest, with no wind to soothe it,
bends down and shines, weeping beneath the downpour;
the sombre air saddens the birds.
The silt rises and clouds the fountain,
and the track is stripped to its stones.
The sand swirls, swathes and grows russet;
the mighty waves pass over it and carry it away.
The horizon is nothing but a filmy curtain;
the glass tinkles, running with droplets;
On the rumbling blue stones of the road
splashes of water dance and sparkle.
Along by a wall, a mournful dog at their heels,
go the great oxen, soaking wet, delayed;
the earth is mud and the sky is grey;
men are weary: oh! but the rain is sad!
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2020 by Michael Berridge, (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:
This text was added to the website: 2020-01-11
Line count: 16
Word count: 129
