El front com una bandera perduda

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by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard

Translation © by Salvador Pila

Le front comme un drapeau perdu

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT ENG

Le front comme un drapeau perdu
Je te traîne quand je suis seul
Dans des rues froides
Des chambres noires
En criant misère

Je ne veux pas les lâcher
Tes mains claires et compliquées
Nées dans le miroir clos des miennes

Tout le reste est parfait
Tout le reste est encore plus inutile
Que la vie

Creuse la terre sous ton ombre

Une nappe d'eau près des seins
Où se noyer
Comme une pierre.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Paul Éluard, Œuvres complètes, Vol. 1, Paris: Gallimard, 1968, Pages 494-495.

Text Authorship:

by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, "Être" [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 Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963), "Le front comme un drapeau perdu", FP 86 no. 3 (1937), published 1937 [ high voice and piano ], from Tel jour Telle nuit, no. 3, Éd. Durand [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 15
Word count: 74

El front com una bandera perduda

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

El front com una bandera perduda
T’arrossego quan estic sol
Per carrers freds
Cambres fosques
Tot cridant misèria

No vull deixar anar
Les teves mans clares i complicades
Nascudes en el mirall tancat de les meves

Tota la resta és perfecta
tota la resta és encara més inútil
Que la vida

Cava la terra sota la teva ombra

Una napa d'aigua a prop dels pits
On ofegar-se
Com una pedra.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Être" = "Ser"
"Le front comme un drapeau perdu" = "El front com una bandera perduda"

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to Catalan (Català) copyright © 2026 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 Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, "Être"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-05-30
Line count: 15
Word count: 70