I picked a pink blossom from a peach tree

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by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

J'ai cueilli une fleur rose de pêcher

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

J'ai cueilli une fleur rose de pêcher, 
et je l'ai offerte à ma bien-aimée, 
dont la bouche est aussi petite et aussi rose
qu'une fleur de pêcher. 

J'ai pris, dans son nid, une hirondelle aux ailes noires, 
et je l'ai offerte à ma bien-aimée, 
dont les sourcils ressemblent
aux ailes de l'hirondelle. 

Le lendemain, la fleur de pêcher était fanée, 
et l'hirondelle avait fui par la fenêtre 
qui donne sur la Montagne Bleue. 

Mais la bouche de ma bien-aimée était toujours rose, 
et ses sourcils ne s'étaient pas envolés.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade : poésies chinoises, Paris: H. Piazza, 1920, pages 34-35.

Text Authorship:

by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "La fleur de pêcher", appears in La flûte de jade [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 Raymond Paul-Henri-Joseph Lebrun (1892 - 1920), "La Fleur du pêcher", op. 52, published 1925 [ voice and piano ], from Trois poésies extraites de la Flûte de Jade, no. 3, Paris : éditions Maurice Senart [sung text not yet checked]
by Léon Stekke (1904 - 1970), "La Fleur de pêcher", op. 11 no. 1 [ voice and piano ], from Deux mélodies chinoises : extraites de "La Flûte de Jade", no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-04-29
Line count: 13
Word count: 89

I picked a pink blossom from a peach...

Language: English after the French (Français)

I picked a pink blossom from a peach tree,
and I gave it to my beloved, 
whose mouth is as small and as pink
as a peach blossom. 

I caught in its nest a swallow with black wings,
and I gave it to my beloved, 
whose eyebrows are like
the wings of a swallow. 

The next day, the peach blossom had wilted, 
and the swallow had fled through the window 
that looks out over the Blue Mountain. 

But my beloved's mouth was still pink, 
and her eyebrows had not flown away.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"La Fleur de pêcher" = "The Peach Blossom"
"La Fleur du pêcher" = "The Peach Blossom"

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 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 Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "La fleur de pêcher", appears in La flûte de jade
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-04-29
Line count: 13
Word count: 91