Ships, we have loved you to no purpose | Ships, we have loved you to no purpose

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by Jean de La Ville de Mirmont (1886 - 1914)

Translation © by Shawn Thuris

Vaisseaux, nous vous aurons aimés en...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT ENG ENG GER

Vaisseaux, nous vous aurons aimés en pure perte ;
Le dernier de vous tous est parti sur la mer.
Le couchant emporta tant de voiles ouvertes
Que ce port et mon cœur sont à jamais déserts.

La mer vous a rendus à votre destinée,
Au-delà du rivage où s'arrêtent nos pas.
Nous ne pouvions garder vos âmes enchaînées ;
Il vous faut des lointains que je ne connais pas

Je suis de ceux dont les désirs sont sur la terre.
Le souffle qui vous grise emplit mon cœur d'effroi,
Mais votre appel, au fond des soirs, me désespère,
Car j'ai de grands départs inassouvis en moi.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Jean de La Ville de Mirmont, L’Horizon chimérique, Recueil posthume, Éd. Société Littéraire de France, 1920.

Text Authorship:

by Jean de La Ville de Mirmont (1886 - 1914), no title, written 1911-12, appears in L'horizon chimérique, no. 5, Éd. Société Littéraire de France, first published 1920 [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 Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Vaisseaux, nous vous aurons aimés", op. 118 no. 4 (1921), published 1922 [ baritone and piano ], from L'horizon chimérique, no. 4, Paris, Éd. Durand & Cie [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Vaixells, us haurem estimat ", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "Tall ships, we loved you", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Shawn Thuris) , "Ships, we have loved you to no purpose", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Nele Gramß) , "Schiffe, wir haben euch geliebt", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Didier Pelat

This text was added to the website: 2003-10-22
Line count: 12
Word count: 104

Ships, we have loved you to no purpose

Language: English after the French (Français)

Ships, we have loved you to no purpose;
The last of you has left upon the sea.
The setting sun has carried off so many full sails
That this port and my heart are forever empty.

The sea has returned you to your destiny
Beyond the shore where footsteps end.
We could not keep your souls enchained;
For you there must be distances that I do not know.

I am one of those whose wishes are on land;
The wind that intoxicates you fills my heart with dread.
But your call in the depth of night makes me despair,
For I have great departures unsatisfied within.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by Shawn Thuris, (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 Jean de La Ville de Mirmont (1886 - 1914), no title, written 1911-12, appears in L'horizon chimérique, no. 5, Éd. Société Littéraire de France, first published 1920
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2022-06-04
Line count: 12
Word count: 106