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by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)
Translation © by Peter Low
Je ne sais pourquoi
Language: French (Français)
Our translations: ENG
Je ne sais pourquoi
Mon esprit amer
D'une aile inquiète et folle, vole sur la mer,
Tout ce qui m'est cher,
D'une aile d'effroi
Mon amour le couve au ras des flots. Pourquoi, pourquoi ?
Mouette à l'essor mélancolique.
Elle suit la vague, ma pensée,
À tous les vents du ciel balancée
Et biaisant quand la marée oblique,
Mouette à l'essor mélancolique.
Ivre de soleil
Et de liberté,
Un instinct la guide à travers cette immensité.
La brise d'été
Sur le flot vermeil
Doucement la porte en un tiède demi-sommeil.
Parfois si tristement elle crie
Qu'elle alarme au lointain le pilote
Puis au gré du vent se livre et flotte
Et plonge, et l'aile toute meurtrie
Revole, et puis si tristement crie !
Je ne sais pourquoi
Mon esprit amer
D'une aile inquiète et folle vole sur la mer.
Tout ce qui m'est cher,
D'une aile d'effroi
Mon amour le couve au ras des flots. Pourquoi, pourquoi ?
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), no title, appears in Sagesse, in Sagesse III, no. 7 [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 Marguerite Canal (1890 - 1978), "Je ne sais pourquoi", published 1931 [ voice and piano ], from Sagesse, no. 3, Paris, Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
- by René d'Avezac de Castéra (1873 - 1955), "Je ne sais pourquoi", published 1908 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Édition mutuelle [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jenny Cogen-Van Rysselberghe (1879 - 1966), "Je ne sais pourquoi" [ high voice and piano ], photocopy of the MS at the Conservatoire de Gand (Belgium) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Georges Flé , "Je ne sais pourquoi", published 1898 [ medium voice and piano ], from Poésies mises en musique, no. 12, Édition du Mercure de France [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ange Flégier (1846 - 1927), "Je ne sais pourquoi", published 1894 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Gallet; confirmed with a CD booklet [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Bruno Gousset (b. 1958), "Je ne sais pourquoi", op. 52 (Quatre mélodies pour chant et piano) no. 2 (1990) [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Raoul Laparra (1876 - 1943), "Je ne sais pourquoi", published 1910 [ high voice and piano ], from Deux Mélodies, no. 2, Paris, Éd. J. Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]
- by Klaus Miehling (b. 1963), "Sur les eaux", op. 85 no. 3 (2001), published 2002 [ eight-part chorus (SSAATTBB chorus) ], from Sieben Chansons zu acht Stimmen nach Texten von Paul Verlaine, no. 3, Goldbach [sung text not yet checked]
- by Axel Raoul Wachtmeister (1865 - 1947), "Je ne sais pourquoi", published 1926 [ voice and piano ], from Trois (puis Quatre) Mélodies sur des poèmes de Paul Verlaine, no. 4, Paris, Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2012-02-06
Line count: 28
Word count: 156
I do not know why
Language: English after the French (Français)
I do not know why
my bitter spirit
on anxious crazy wings flies over the sea.
Over all that I cherish,
with frightened wings,
my love is brooding, just above the waves. Why, why?
A seagull in melancholy flight.
my thought follows the wave,
pushed to and fro by all the sky's winds,
and slanting when the tide angles in,
a seagull in melancholy flight.
Drunk with sun
and freedom
it is guided by instinct across this immensity.
The summer breeze
on the reddish water
carries it gently in a warm half-slumber.
Sometimes it cries so sadly
that it alarms the distant pilot,
then it gives itself to the wind and floats
and dives, and with bruised wings
flies up again, and then so sadly cries!
I do not know why
my bitter spirit
on anxious crazy wings flies over the sea.
Over all that I cherish,
with frightened wings,
my love is brooding, just above the waves. Why, why?
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2022 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), no title, appears in Sagesse, in Sagesse III, no. 7
This text was added to the website: 2022-04-22
Line count: 28
Word count: 161