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by Amédée-Landély Hettich (1856 - 1937)
Translation © by Amy Pfrimmer

Villanelle
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Voici venir la saison douce
Où les oiseaux s’en vont par deux,
Ignorants de ce qui les pousse
Mais plus tendres et plus joyeux.
Voice venir la saison douce
Où les oiseaux s’en vont par deux.
Laissez votre âme ouvrir son aile,
Et comme eux avec le printemps :
Aimez, aimez, vous êtes belle.
Et l’on ne sait aimer qu’un temps,
Et l’on ne sait aimer qu’un temps.

Demi vétue et rougissante
Sous les éteintes du soleils
La fleur tremble ainsi qu’un amante
Qu’un baiser trouble en son sommeil.
Ecoutez ce mot qu’elle épèle ;
Dieu le créa pour vos vingt ans :
Aimez, aimez, vous êtes belle.
Et l’on ne sait aimer qu’un temps,
Et l’on ne sait aimer qu’un temps.

Ici-bas, tout se fane et passe,
Subissant le me destin :
Nul n’est sage qui ne ramasse
La joie éclose en son chemin.
Tant que le bonheur nous appelle
Tant que le bonheur vous appelle,
Profitez de ces courts instants :
Aimez, aimez, vous êtes belle.
Et l’on ne sait aimer qu’un temps,
Et l’on ne sait aimer qu’un temps, qu’un temps.

Text Authorship:

  • by Amédée-Landély Hettich (1856 - 1937), "Villanelle", written 1881 [author's text not yet checked 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 Mel Bonis (1858 - 1937), "Villanelle", op. 4 (1881), published 1884 [ high voice and piano ], Éd. Léon Grus [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • ENG English (Amy Pfrimmer) , "Villanelle", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Amy Pfrimmer

This text was added to the website: 2026-02-12
Line count: 30
Word count: 179

Villanelle
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
Here comes the gentle season
When the birds fly together in pairs,
Unaware of what drives them
But full of tenderness and joy.
Here comes the gentle season
When the birds fly together in pairs.
Let your soul spread its wings,
And enjoy the spring with them:
Love, love, you are beautiful.
And we only know love for a time,
And we only know love for a time.

Half-dressed and blushing,
Beneath the setting sun,
The flower trembles like a lover
Disturbed by a kiss in her sleep.
Listen as she spells the word (*LOVE*); 
God created it for your twenty years:
Love, love, you are beautiful.
And we only know love for a time,
And we only know love for a time.

Here below, everything fades and passes,
Subject to the same fate:
One who is wise gathers
The joys that blossom along their path.
As long as happiness calls us,
As long as happiness calls you,
Enjoy these brief moments:
Love, love, you are beautiful.
And we only know love for a time,
And we only know love for a time, for a time.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 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.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Amédée-Landély Hettich (1856 - 1937), "Villanelle", written 1881
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2026-02-12
Line count: 30
Word count: 186

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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