by
Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
Du jour que je fus amoureus
Language: French (Français)
Du jour que je fus amoureux,
Nul past, tant fut il savoureux,
Ne vin tant fut il delectable,
Au cœur ne me fut agreable :
Car depuis l’heure je n’ay sçeu
Rien boire et manger qui m’ait pleu.
Une tristesse en l’ame enclose
Me nourrist, et non autre chose.
Tous les plaisirs que j’estimois
Alors que libre je n’aimois,
Maintenant je les desestime :
Plus ne m’est plaisante l’escrime,
La paume, la chasse, et le bal,
Mais comme un farouche animal
Je me pers pour celer ma rage,
En l’abry d’un antre sauvage.
L’amour fut bien forte poison
Qui m’ensorcela la raison,
Et qui me desroba l’audace
Que je portoy dessus la face,
Me faisant aller pas à pas,
Triste et pensif, le front à bas,
En homme qui craint et qui n’ose
Se fier plus en nulle chose.
Le torment qu’on feint d’Ixion,
N’approche de ma passion,
Et mieux j’aimerois de Tantale
Endurer la peine fatale
Un an, qu’estre un jour amoureux,
Pour languir autant malheureux
Que j’ay fait, depuis que Cassandre
Tient mon cœur et ne le veut rendre.
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 (David Wyatt) , "From the day I fell in love", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: David Wyatt
This text was added to the website: 2022-02-19
Line count: 32
Word count: 179
From the day I fell in love
Language: English  after the French (Français)
From the day I fell in love,
No food however tasty,
No wine however delectable,
Was pleasant to my heart;
For since that hour I’ve been unable
To drink or eat anything which pleased me.
A sadness shut up in my soul
Feeds me, and nothing else.
All the pleasures which I valued
When I was free and didn’t love,
Now I value them not at all;
No more pleasant to me are battles,
Tennis, hunting, balls;
But like a wild animal
To conceal my passion I lose myself
In the shelter of a lonely cave.
Love was the very strong poison
Which bewitched my reason
And stole away the daring
I wore on my face,
Making me go step by step
Sad and pensive, my head bowed,
Like a man who fears and dares
No longer trust in anything.
The torture of Ixion they talk of
Does not approach my passion,
And I’d rather endure
The deadly punishment of Tantalus
For a year, than be for one day in love
And languish as sadly
As I have since Cassandre
Has held my heart and won’t give it back.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2014 by David Wyatt, (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: 2022-02-19
Line count: 32
Word count: 189