Dull hours | Here are old desires that fade

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by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 - 1949)

Translation © by Emily Ezust

Heures ternes

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Voici d’anciens désirs qui passent,
Encor des songes de lassés,
Encor des rêves qui se lassent ;
Voilà les jours d’espoir passés !

En qui faut-il fuir aujourd’hui !
Il n’y a plus d’étoile aucune :
Mais de la [glace]¹ sur l’ennui
Et des linges bleus sous la lune.

Encor des sanglots pris au piège !
Voyez les malades sans feu,
Et les agneaux brouter la neige ;
Ayez pitié de tout, mon Dieu !

Moi, j’attends un peu de réveil,
Moi, j’attends que le sommeil passe,
Moi, j’attends un peu de soleil
Sur mes mains que la lune glace.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• N. Boulanger

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Boulanger: "neige"

Confirmed with Maurice Maeterlinck, Serres chaudes, Bruxelles: Paul Lacomblez, 1912, p.41

Text Authorship:

by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 - 1949), "Heures ternes", written 1889, appears in Serres chaudes, Paris, Éd. L. Vanier,, first published 1889 [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 Nadia Boulanger (1887 - 1979), "Heures ternes", copyright © 1914, first performed 1910 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Jean-Émile-Paul Cras (1879 - 1932), "Heures ternes", subtitle: "Tedium", LBo 21/15 (1900) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Luis de Freitas Branco (1890 - 1955), "Heures Ternes", 1913, published 1997 [ medium voice and piano ], from Canções Francesas - Serres chaudes, Ciclo Maeterlinckiano, no. 2, Éd. Musicoteca Lisboa [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Dull hours", copyright © 2020

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2019-04-22
Line count: 16
Word count: 94

Dull hours

Language: English after the French (Français)

Here are old desires that fade,
More dreams of the weary,
More dreams that bore us;
Those hopeful days are gone!

To where can we flee on such a day?
There are no more stars:
Only ennui beneath a crust of ice
And beneath the moon, sheets of blue.

More sobs trapped!
Look at the ill without fire,
And the lambs grazing on snow;
Have pity on us all, my God!

As for me, I wait for the awakening call; 
I wait for sleep to pass,
I wait for a little sunlight
To fall on my hands frozen by the moon.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2020 by Emily Ezust
Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
from the LiederNet Archive
For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.
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Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 - 1949), "Heures ternes", written 1889, appears in Serres chaudes, Paris, Éd. L. Vanier,, first published 1889
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2020-07-07
Line count: 16
Word count: 101