by
Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)
Tu crois au marc de café
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
Tu crois au marc de café,
Aux présages, aux grands jeux :
Moi je ne crois qu'en tes grands yeux.
Tu crois aux contes de fées,
Aux jours néfastes, aux songes,
Moi je ne crois qu'en tes mensonges.
Tu crois en un vague Dieu,
En quelque saint spécial,
En tel Ave contre tel mal.
Je ne crois qu'aux heures bleues
Et rose que tu m'épanches
Dans la volupté des nuits blanches !
Et si profonde est ma foi
Envers tout ce que je croi
Que je ne vis plus que pour toi.
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Max Arham (flourished 1911-1917), "Chanson pour elle", <<1914 [ voice and piano ], from Douze mélodies, 3e série, no. 52, Paris, Sénart [sung text not yet checked]
- by Emma-Laure-Esther Guilbert (1865 - 1944), "Tu crois au marc de café", 1938 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Reynaldo Hahn (1874 - 1947), "L'incrédule", 1893, published 1894 [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies - 1er volume, no. 14, Paris, Heugel [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "The sceptic", copyright © 2002, (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: 15
Word count: 92
The sceptic
Language: English  after the French (Français)
You believe in reading coffee-grounds,
omens and Tarot cards;
all I believe in is your eyes.
You believe in fairytales,
unlucky days, and dreams;
all I believe in is your lies.
You believe in a vague divinity,
a special saint
and prayers for specific ailments;
I believe in the blue-and-pink hours
that you generously share with me
through the ecstasy of sleepless nights!
And my faith is so deep
in what I do believe in,
that all I live for is you.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2002 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), no title, written 1891, appears in Chansons pour elle, no. 20, Paris, Éd. Léon Vanier, first published 1891
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 82