Sadness, the melancholy of the human body

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by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)

Translation © by Laura Prichard

La tristesse, la langueur du corps...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

La tristesse, la langueur du corps humain
M’attendrissent, me fléchissent, m’apitoient.
Ah ! surtout quand des sommeils noirs le foudroient,
Quand les draps zèbrent la peau, foulent la main !
  
Et que mièvre dans la fièvre du demain,
Tiède encor du bain de sueur qui décroît,
Comme un oiseau qui grelotte sur un toit !
Et les pieds, toujours douloureux du chemin,
  
Et le sein, marqué d’un double coup de poing,
Et la bouche, une blessure rouge encor,
Et la chair frémissante, frêle décor,
  
Et les yeux, les pauvres yeux si beaux où point
La douleur de voir encore du fini !...
Triste corps ! Combien faible et combien puni !

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), no title, appears in Sagesse, in Sagesse III, no. 10, first published 1880 [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 Klaus Miehling (b. 1963), "La tristesse", op. 85 no. 5 (2001), published 2002 [ eight-part chorus (SSAATTBB chorus) ], from Sieben Chansons zu acht Stimmen nach Texten von Paul Verlaine, no. 5, Goldbach [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Laura Prichard) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2014-09-16
Line count: 14
Word count: 105

Sadness, the melancholy of the human...

Language: English after the French (Français)

Sadness, the melancholy of the human body
Has softened me up, has bent me over, has made me feel pity.
Ah, especially when night terrors strike,
When the sheets mark [my] skin with stripes, twisting [my] hands!
  
And how weak from tomorrow’s fever,
Still tepidly bathed in a receding sweat,
Like a bird which shivers on a rooftop!
And the feet, still in pain from the road,
  
And the chest, hit with a jab and cross,
And the mouth, another red wound,
And the quivering flesh, frail décor,
  
And the eyes, the poor eyes so attractive, where [one can see]
The pain of foreseeing one’s end!...
Sad body! How frail and how mistreated!

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Laura Prichard, (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 Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), no title, appears in Sagesse, in Sagesse III, no. 10, first published 1880
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2023-07-06
Line count: 14
Word count: 113