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Enfants d'un jour, ô nouveau-nés, Petites bouches, petits nez, Petites lèvres demi-closes, Membres tremblants, Si frais, si blancs, Si roses ; Enfants d'un jour, ô nouveau-nés, Pour le bonheur que vous donnez, À vous voir dormir dans les langes, Espoir des nids, Soyez bénis, Chers anges! Pour vos grands yeux effarouchés Que sous vos draps blancs vous cachez, Pour vos sourires, vos pleurs même, Tout ce qu'en vous, Êtres si doux, On aime ; Pour tout ce que vous gazouillez, Soyez bénis, baisés, choyés, Gais rossignols, blanches fauvettes ! Que d'amoureux Et que d'heureux Vous faites ! Lorsque sur vos chauds oreillers, En souriant vous sommeillez, Près de vous, tout bas, ô merveille ! Une voix dit : « Dors beau petit, Je veille. » C'est la voix de l'ange gardien, Dormez, dormez, ne craignez rien ; Rêvez, sous ses ailes de neige : Le beau jaloux Vous berce et vous Protège. Enfants d'un jour, ô nouveau-nés, Au paradis, d'où vous venez, Un léger fil d'or vous rattache À ce fil d'or Tient l'âme encor Sans tache. Vous êtes à toute maison Ce que la fleur est au gazon, Ce qu'au ciel est l'étoile blanche, Ce qu'un peu d'eau Est au roseau Qui penche ; Mais vous avez de plus encor Ce que n'a pas l'étoile d'or, Ce qui manque aux fleurs les plus belles : Malheur à nous ! Vous avez tous Des ailes !
C. Franck sets stanzas 1-2, 7-9
Paladilhe sets stanzas 1-2, 7-9
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Alphonse Daudet (1840 - 1897), "Aux petits enfants", written 1858, appears in Les amoureuses, poèmes et fantaisies, no. 1 [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 Émile Durand (1830 - 1903), "Enfants d'un jour", published 1874 [ voice and piano ], (Paris) Berlin, Fürstner [sung text not yet checked]
- by César Franck (1822 - 1890), "Aux petits enfants", CFF 165 no. 2, FWV 89 no. 2 (1887), published 1923, stanzas 1-2, 7-9 [ vocal duet (or chorus) and piano ], from 6 Duos pour voix égales, no. 2, Paris, Éd. Enoch [sung text not yet checked]
- by Louise L'Henoret (1857 - 1942), as Louis Urgel, "Aux petits enfants", 1911?, copyright © 1911 [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. Max Eschig [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Paladilhe (1844 - 1926), "Petits enfants", 1873, stanzas 1-2,7-9 [ medium voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies pour chant, no. 16, Paris, Éd. G. Hartmann [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Fernand de la Tombelle (1854 - 1928), "Petits enfants", 1891 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Qi Feng Wu) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Bertram Kottmann
This text was added to the website: 2013-07-26
Line count: 54
Word count: 224
Children of a day, oh newborns, Little mouths, little noses, Little half-closed lips, trembling limbs, So fresh, so white, So pink; Children of a day, oh newborns, For the happiness you give, To see you sleep in swaddling clothes, Hope of nests, Bless you, Dear angels! For your big, frightened eyes That you hide under your white sheets, For your smiles, your tears even, All that's in you, Beings so sweet, We love; For all that you chirp, Be blessed, kissed, pampered, Gay nightingales, white warblers! How in love And how happy You make [me]! When on your warm pillows Smiling as you slumber, Close to you, low and behold! A voice says: "Sleep beautiful little one, I am watching." It's the voice of the guardian angel, Sleep, sleep, fear not; Dream, beneath his snowy wings: The jealous beauty Cradles you and Protects you. Children of a day, oh newborns, In paradise, from whence you came, A light golden thread binds you To this golden thread Holding the soul yet Unblemished. You are to every home What the flower is to the grass, What the white star is to heaven, What a little water Is to the reed That bends; But you have more of What the golden star lacks, What the fairest flower lacks: Woe to us! You have all Of the wings!
About the headline (FAQ)
Translator's note for stanza 2, line 4: referring to eggs about to hatch
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2023 by Qi Feng Wu, (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 Alphonse Daudet (1840 - 1897), "Aux petits enfants", written 1858, appears in Les amoureuses, poèmes et fantaisies, no. 1
This text was added to the website: 2023-08-25
Line count: 54
Word count: 224