With bright red roses

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by Gérard Labrunie (1808 - 1855), as Gérard de Nerval

Translation © by Grant Hicks

De roses vermeilles

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

De roses vermeilles
Nos champs sont fleuris,
Et le bras des treilles
Tend à nos corbeilles
Ses raisins mûris.

Puisque chaque année
Jetant aux hivers
Sa robe fanée,
Renaît couronnée
De feuillages verts ;

Puisque toute chose
S'offre à notre main
Pour qu'elle en dispose,
Effeuillons la rose,
Foulons le raisin.

Car le temps nous presse
D'un constant effort !
Hier la jeunesse,
Ce soir la vieillesse,
Et demain la mort.

Étrange mystère !
Chaque homme à son tour
Passe solitaire
Un jour sur la terre ;
Mais pendant ce jour...

De roses vermeilles
Nos champs sont fleuris,
Et le bras des treilles
Tend à nos corbeilles
Ses raisins mûris.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Alexandre Dumas, Caligula, Brussels: Th. Lejeune, 1838, Page 123.

Text Authorship:

by Gérard Labrunie (1808 - 1855), as Gérard de Nerval, no title [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), "Mélodrame et chœur", op. 52 no. 4, published [1888], first performed 1888 [ women's chorus and orchestra ], from the incidental music to Caligula, no. 4, Paris, J. Hamelle [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: Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2014-11-16
Line count: 30
Word count: 106

With bright red roses

Language: English after the French (Français)

With bright red roses
Our fields are in bloom 
And the arm of the arbor
Holds out for our baskets
Its ripened grapes.

Since each year,
Throwing to winter
Its faded robe,
Is reborn crowned
With green foliage;

Since all things
Are placed in our hands 
To use as we please,
Let us pluck the rose,
Let us tread the grape,

For time presses us
With a constant pressure!
Yesterday youth,
Tonight old age,
And tomorrow death.

Strange mystery!
Each man in his turn 
Spends alone 
One day upon the earth;
But for this day...

With bright red roses 
Our fields are in bloom,
And the arm of the arbor
Holds out for our baskets 
Its ripened grapes.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Mélodrame et chœur" = "Melodrama and Chorus"

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 by Grant Hicks, (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 Gérard Labrunie (1808 - 1855), as Gérard de Nerval, no title
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-07-24
Line count: 30
Word count: 118