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-- Sors de ta maison et va sur la côte ;
La maison est vide et la tour est haute,
Monte sur la tour,
[Et va voir, au]1 loin de la triste grève,
Les [espoirs partis sur la mer du rêve]2
Rentrer tour à tour.
-- Le reflet joyeux de leurs oriflammes
Dansait dans le port sur l'azur des lames
Lorsqu'ils sont sortis ;
J'avais mis en eux toute ma fortune,
Et les flots sournois, au clair de la lune,
Les ont engloutis.
- Reste sur la tour et regarde encore
Vers l'horizon mauve où l'antique aurore
Rit comme autrefois ;
Regarde toujours, et si tu vois naître
Une forme lente et douce à connaître,
Dis ce que tu vois.
-- Je vois un vaisseau sans mâts et sans voiles,
Où, découragé de croire aux étoiles,
Le pilote dort ;
Le vent tord la nef que la mer secoue,
Et ma bien-aimée est peinte à la proue
Dans sa robe d’or.
-- Reste sur la tour et regarde encore
Le vague horizon qui se décolore
[Sous]3 la paix du soir:
[Regarde et dis-nous si quelque trirème
Ne rapporte pas à l'heure suprême
Un suprême espoir.]4
-- Je vois un vaisseau sous ses voiles graves
Qui, sinistrement, porte les épaves
Du fait accompli :
Lourd de mâts rompus et de vielles peautres,
C’est l’espoir qui vient consoler les autres,
L’espoir de l’oubli…
A. Maddison sets stanzas 1, 4-6
Confirmed with Edmond Haraucourt, Seul, Paris, Bibliothèque-Charpentier, 1891, pages 198-200.
1 Maddison: "Vois au"2 Maddison: "Espoirs partis sur la Mer des Rêves"
3 Maddison: "Dans"
4 omitted by Maddison
Authorship
- by Edmond Haraucourt (1856 - 1941), "L'armada", written 1891, appears in Seul, in 2. L'adoration, no. 83, Paris, Éd. Bibliothèque Charpentier, first published 1891 [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 Adela Maddison (1866 - 1929), "L'armada", 1904, published 1904, stanzas 1,4-6 [ medium voice and piano ], from Cinq mélodies sur des poèmes d'Edmond Haraucourt, no. 1, Paris, Éd. J. Hamelle [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Lucy Fitz Gibbon) , "The armada", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Lucy Fitz Gibbon
This text was added to the website: 2020-01-13
Line count: 36
Word count: 227
Leave your house and go to the coast;
The house is empty and the tower high,
Climb the tower,
See as far as the sad, rocky beach
The Hopes that departed on the Sea of Dreams
Returning one by one…
[...
...
...
...
...
...]
[...
...
...
...
...
...]
I see a vessel without masts and without sails
Where, discouraged from believing in the stars,
The pilot sleeps…
The wind wrings the ship shaken by the sea
And my beloved is painted on the prow
In her golden dress
Remain on the tower and look again
At the hazy horizon which becomes bleached
In the peace of evening…
[...
...
...]
I see a vessel under whose solemn sails
Grimly carries the wrecks
Of done deeds:
Heavy with shattered masts and old rudders
It is hope who comes to console the others,
The hope of forgetting…
Authorship
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2020 by Lucy Fitz Gibbon, (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:
- a text in French (Français) by Edmond Haraucourt (1856 - 1941), "L'armada", written 1891, appears in Seul, in 2. L'adoration, no. 83, Paris, Éd. Bibliothèque Charpentier, first published 1891
This text was added to the website: 2020-01-13
Line count: 36
Word count: 149