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Je veux que le matin l'ignore Le nom que j'ai dit à la nuit, Et qu'au vent de l'aube, sans bruit, Comme une larme il s'évapore. Je veux que le jour le proclame L'amour qu'au matin j'ai caché, Et sur mon cœur ouvert penché, [Ainsi qu'un grain d'encens]1 l'enflamme. Je veux que le couchant l'oublie Le secret que j'ai dit au jour Et l'emporte, avec mon amour, Aux plis de sa robe pâlie !
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Armand Silvestre, Le pays des roses. Poésies nouvelles 1880-1882, Paris, G. Charpentier, 1882, pages 140-141.
1 Fauré: "Comme un grain d'encens il"Authorship
- by Armand Silvestre (1837 - 1901), "Mystère", appears in Le Pays de Roses, poésies nouvelles 1880-1882, in 3. Vers pour être chantés [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 Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Le secret", op. 23 no. 3 (1880-1), published 1881 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by François Luc Joseph Thomé (1850 - 1909), as Francis Thomé, "Mystère" [ medium voice and piano ], from Sept mélodies, no. 4, Paris, Henry Lemoine [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Peter Low) , no title, copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Nele Gramß) , no title, copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 74
I want the morning not to know the name that I told to the night; in the dawn wind, silently, may it evaporate like a teardrop. I want the day to proclaim the love that I hid from the morning, and (bent over my open heart) to set it aflame, like a grain of incense. I want the sunset to forget the secret I told to the day, and to carry it away with my love in the folds of its pale robe!
About the headline (FAQ)
Translation of title "Le secret" = "The secret"Authorship
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 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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- a text in French (Français) by Armand Silvestre (1837 - 1901), "Mystère", appears in Le Pays de Roses, poésies nouvelles 1880-1882, in 3. Vers pour être chantés
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 83