Le Seigneur a dit à son enfant
Language: French (Français)
Le Seigneur a dit à son enfant:
Va, par le clair jardin innocent
Des anges, où brillent les pommes
Et les roses. Il est à toi. C'est ton royaume.
Mais ne cueille des choses
Que la fleur ;
Laisse le fruit aux branches,
N'approfondis pas le bonheur.
Ne cherche pas à connaître
Le secret de la terre
Et l'énigme des êtres.
N'écoute pas la voix qui t'attire
Au fond de l'ombre, la voix qui tente,
La voix du serpent, ou la voix des sirènes,
Ou celle des colombes ardentes
Aux bosquets sombres de l'Amour.
Reste ignorante,
Ne pense pas ; chante.
Tout science est vaine,
N'aime que la beauté.
Et qu'elle soit pour toi toute la vérité.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Charles Van Lerberghe, La Chanson d’Ève, Paris, Société du Mercure de France, 1904 (2e éd.), pages 29-30.
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 (Peter Low) , copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 21
Word count: 115
The Lord God said to his child
Language: English after the French (Français)
The Lord God said to his child:
Walk in the bright and innocent
garden of the angels, where apples and roses
are gleaming. It is yours. Your kingdom.
But best not wake anything
except the flowers;
leave the fruit on the branches,
do not analyse happiness.
Do not try to know
the secret of the earth
and the enigma of beings.
Do not listen to the enticing voice
from deep in the shadow, the one that tempts,
the serpent's voice, or the sirens',
or the voice of the ardent doves
in the dark groves of Eros.
Remain unknowing.
Do not think - sing!
All knowledge is vain,
love only beauty.
And may she be for you all truth.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of titles
"Berceuse" = "Lullaby"
"Le Seigneur a dit" = "The Lord said"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2021 by Peter Low, (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.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2021-11-24
Line count: 21
Word count: 117