I am told | I am told: you should not

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by Victor Segalen (1878 - 1919)

Translation © by Peter Low

On me dit

Language: French (Français) after the Chinese (中文)

Our translations: ENG

On me dit : Vous ne devez pas
    l'épouser. Tous les présages
    sont d'accord, & néfastes : remarquez bien,
    dans son nom, l'EAU, jetée au sort, se
    remplace par le VENT.
Or, le vent renverse, c'est péremptoire. Ne
    prenez donc pas cette femme. & puis il y a
    le commentaire : écoutez : » Il se heurte
    aux rochers. Il entre dans les ronces. Il se
    vêt de poil épineux... « & autres gloses qu'il
    vaut mieux ne pas tirer.

               *

Je réponds : Certes, ce sont là présages douteux.
      Mais ne donnons pas trop d'importance. &
      puis, elle est veuve & tout cela regarde le
      premier mari.
Préparez la chaise pour les noces.

Text Authorship:

by Victor Segalen (1878 - 1919), appears in Stèles, in 3. Stèles orientées, no. 4, first published 1912 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Chinese (中文) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Jacques François Antoine Ibert (1890 - 1962), "On me dit", 1925, published 1926 [ voice and flute ], from Deux Stèles orientées, no. 2, Éd. Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Peter Low) , "I am told", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-09-01
Line count: 17
Word count: 109

I am told

Language: English after the French (Français)

I am told: you should not 
marry her.  The omens are all 
consistent, and very bad. Note well, 
in her name is WATER, and that, when lots are drawn, 
and is replaced by WIND.
Now wind knocks things over, it's tyrannical. 
So don't take that woman. And then there is 
the commentary - listen to this: "He bumps 
into the rocks, he goes into the brambles, he 
dresses in prickly skin..." And other glosses 
that it is best not to probe.
 
       *

I reply: Sure, those are dubious omens. 
But let's not give them too much importance.           
Besides, she is a widow and all that applies 
only to the first husband.
Prepare the chair for my wedding!

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 Victor Segalen (1878 - 1919), appears in Stèles, in 3. Stèles orientées, no. 4, first published 1912
- Go to the text page.

Based on:

a text in Chinese (中文) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2022-08-08
Line count: 17
Word count: 116