Oh tender eyes, so beautiful to view

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by Louise Labé (1526 - 1566)

Translation © by Peter Low

Ô dous regars, ô yeus pleins de beauté

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Ô dous regars, ô yeus pleins de beauté,
 Petis iardins, pleins de fleurs amoureuses
 Ou sont d'Amour les flesches dangereuses.
 Tant à vous voir mon œil s'est arresté !

Ô cœur félon, ô rude cruauté,
 Tant tu me tiens de façons rigoureuses.
 Tant i'ay coulé de larmes langoureuses.
 Sentant l'ardeur de mon cœur tourmenté !

Donques, mes yeus, tant de plaisir auez,
 Tant de bons tours par ses yeus receuez :
 Mais toy, mon cœur, plus les vois s'y complaire,

Plus tu languiz, plus en as de souci,
 Or deuinez si ie suis aise aussi,
 Sentant mon œil estre à mon cœur contraire.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Œuvres de Louise Labé, texte établi par Charles Boy, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1887, page 99.

Text Authorship:

by Louise Labé (1526 - 1566), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 11 [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):

[ None yet in the database ]

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

ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Rainer Maria Rilke) , no title, appears in Die vierundzwanzig Sonette der Louize Labé, Lyoneserin : 1555, no. 11, Leipzig, Insel-Verlag, first published 1917

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2020-03-02
Line count: 14
Word count: 100

Oh tender eyes, so beautiful to view

Language: English after the French (Français)

Oh tender eyes, so beautiful to view,
you little gardens full of Cupid’s flowers,
source of the arrows with the fateful powers,
how often mine have paused to gaze at you!

Oh wicked heart, oh harsh and cruel part,
how ruthlessly you hold me in your thrall,
how many tears you’ve caused me to let fall,
hot with the fire of my tormented heart!

Thus you, my eyes, receive pleasure galore -
gazing at him gives you sweet nourishment.
Meanwhile, oh heart, knowing their merriment

only makes you ache and languish more.
Now someone guess: can I be well content,
when eyes and heart contend in a tug-of-war?

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 Louise Labé (1526 - 1566), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 11
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2022-07-11
Line count: 14
Word count: 107