by
Louise Labé (1526 - 1566)
Ne reprenez, Dames, si i'ay aymé
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
Ne reprenez, Dames, si i'ay aymé :
Si i'ay senti mile torches ardantes,
Mile trauaus, mile douleurs mordantes :
Si en pleurant, i'ay mon tems consumé,
Las que mon nom n'en soit par vous blamé.
Si i'ay failli, les peines sont presentes,
N'aigrissez point leurs pointes violentes :
Mais estime qu'Amour, à point nommé,
Sans votre ardeur d'un Vulcan excuser,
Sans la beauté d'Adonis acuser.
Pourra, s'il veut, plus vous rendre amoureuses :
En ayant moins que moy d'ocasion,
Et plus d'estrange & forte passion.
Et gardez vous d'estre plus malheureuses.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Œuvres de Louise Labé, texte établi par Charles Boy, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1887, page 107.
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Michel Bosc (b. 1963), "Ne reprenez, Dames, si j’ai aimé", op. 206 no. 2 (2006) [ high voice, guitar, and mandole ], from Le Jardin de Louise Labé, Suite, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ernst Alexander 'Sas' Bunge (1924 - 1980), "Sonnet XXIV", published 1951 [ medium voice and piano ], from Trois airs, sur des poèmes de Louise Labé, no. 2, Amsterdam, Donemus [sung text not yet checked]
- by Lex Zwaap (1919 - 1988), as Lex van Delden, "Sonnet XXIV", op. 1 no. 2 (1937) [ soprano, flute, clarinet, and string trio ], from L'amour, 4 liederen en 3 interludes, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2008-07-06
Line count: 14
Word count: 91
Don’t censure me for loving, ladies,...
Language: English  after the French (Français)
Don’t censure me for loving, ladies, please.
It’s true I’ve felt a thousand searing pains,
the tortures of a thousand torches’ flames;
I’ve squandered months in sobs and miseries.
But let your words of blame be soft and few -
if I’ve done wrong, I’m being punished now,
I don’t need extra coals heaped on my brow.
And think: tomorrow any one of you,
without a Vulcan to excuse your fire
or an Adonis to induce desire,
could fall a prey to playful Cupid’s curse,
smitten with even stronger, stranger passion
than I have known, though having less occasion.
And watch out lest you suffer even worse!
About the headline (FAQ)
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.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Louise Labé (1526 - 1566), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 24
This text was added to the website: 2022-07-11
Line count: 14
Word count: 107