by
Lucien Paté (1845 - 1939)
Les Étoiles
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
Vous qui voyez solitaire dans les nuits
mon cœur élever de terre ses ennuis.
Lys de l'azur, pâles urnes, perles d'or,
qui tombez des plus nocturnes quand tout dort.
Ô reines des heures sombres aux doux fronts,
Savez-vous ce qu'en nos ombres nous souffrons ?
Oui, ces pleurs, que le soir sème, sont à vous !
Mais coulent-ils pour vous-mèmes ou pour nous ?
Ah ! Si pour vous, mes étoiles sont vos pleurs,
mèlons sous les mèmes voiles nos douleurs
dans vos calices de flamme fleurs du ciel,
Laissez puiser à mon âme votre miel
à mon cœur par la souffrance affaibli
versez un peu d'espérance ou d'oubli.
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Amy Pfrimmer) , "The Stars", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2018-09-24
Line count: 14
Word count: 109
The Stars
Language: English  after the French (Français)
You alone, in the nights,
see my weary heart rising from the earth.
Lilies of blue, pale urns, pearls of gold,
fall from the folds of night when everything sleeps.
O queens of the somber hours with soft brows,
do you know what we suffer in our own shadows?
Yes, these tears, that the evening sows, are yours!
But do they flow for you or for us?
Ah! If my stars are your tears,
let us mingle our sorrows with heavenly flowers
in your chalices of flame,
Let your honey draw into my soul,
into my heart weakened by suffering,
and pour into it a little hope or oblivion.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Amy Pfrimmer, (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 Lucien Paté (1845 - 1939), "Les Étoiles", appears in Poésies, Paris, Éd. G. Charpentier, first published 1878
This text was added to the website: 2023-06-05
Line count: 14
Word count: 109