Si mai s’esdevé | Si mai s’esdevé

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by Émile Verhaeren (1855 - 1916)

Translation © by Salvador Pila

S'il arrive jamais

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT

S'il arrive jamais
Que nous soyons, sans le savoir,
Souffrance ou peine ou désespoir,
L'un pour l'autre ; s'il se faisait
Que la fatigue ou le banal plaisir
Détendissent en nous l'arc d'or du haut désir ;
Si le cristal de la pure pensée
Doit en nos cœurs tomber et se briser,
Si malgré tout, je me sentais
Vaincu pour n'avoir pas été
Assez en proie à la divine immensité
De la bonté ;
Alors, oh ! serrons-nous comme deux fous sublimes
Qui sous les cieux cassés, se cramponnent aux cimes
Quand même -- et d'un unique essor,
L'âme en soleil, s'exaltent dans la mort.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Émile Verhaeren (1855 - 1916), no title, written 1896, appears in Les heures claires, no. 30, Bruxelles, Éd. Edmond Deman, first published 1896 [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 Nadia Boulanger (1887 - 1979) and by Stéphane Raoul Pugno (1852 - 1914), "S'il arrive jamais", 1909, published 1910 [ high voice and piano ], from Les heures claires, no. 8, Paris, Éd. "Au Ménestrel" Heugel [sung text not yet checked]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Si mai s’esdevé", copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2010-11-02
Line count: 16
Word count: 100

Si mai s’esdevé

Language: Catalan (Català) after the French (Français)

Si mai s’esdevé
que siguem, sense saber-ho,
sofriment o pena o desesperança,
l’un per a l’altre; si arribés
que la fatiga o el plaer banal
afluixessin en nosaltres l’arc d’or de l’elevat desig;
si el cristall del pur pensament
hagués de caure als nostres cors i trencar-se,
si malgrat tot, jo em sentís
vençut per no haver estat
prou presa de la divina immensitat
de la bondat;
aleshores, oh! Abracem-nos com dos folls sublims
que sota el cel esberlat, s’aferren als cims
tanmateix – i que d’una sola efusió,
l’ànima al sol, s’exalten en la mort.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to Catalan (Català) copyright © 2022 by Salvador Pila, (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 Émile Verhaeren (1855 - 1916), no title, written 1896, appears in Les heures claires, no. 30, Bruxelles, Éd. Edmond Deman, first published 1896
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2022-01-16
Line count: 16
Word count: 97