Royalty | A beautiful morning, among a most gentle people

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by Arthur Rimbaud (1854 - 1891)

Translation © by Ahmed E. Ismail

Royauté

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CHI ENG ENG JPN SPA

Un beau matin, chez un peuple fort doux,  un  homme
et  une  femme  superbes   criaient  sur  la  place
publique:  "Mes amis,  je veux qu'elle soit reine!"
"Je veux être reine!"  Elle riait et tremblait.  Il
parlait aux amis de révélation, d'épreuve terminée.
Ils se pâmaient l'un contre l'autre.

En effet ils furent  rois toute  une matinée où les
tentures carminées se  relevèrent sur les  maisons,
et  toute l'après-midi, où ils s'avancèrent du côté
des jardins de palmes.

Text Authorship:

by Arthur Rimbaud (1854 - 1891), "Royauté", appears in Les Illuminations [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 (Edward) Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976), "Royauté", op. 18 no. 4 (1939), published 1940 [ high voice and strings ], from Les Illuminations, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CHI Chinese (中文) (Yen-Chiang Che) , "皇位", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Ahmed E. Ismail) , "Royalty", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "Royalty", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
JPN Japanese (日本語) (Naoyuki Okada) , "王権", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (José Miguel Llata) , "Realeza", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 10
Word count: 77

Royalty

Language: English after the French (Français)

A beautiful morning, among a most gentle people, 
a superb man and woman, cry out in a 
public square: "My friends, I wish to make her your queen!"
"I wish to be your queen!," she cries, and trembles. He 
speaks to his friends of revelation, of finished ordeals. 
They swoon, one against the other.

Indeed, they were kings all that morning while 
the crimson hangings went up on the houses, 
and all that afternoon, when they advanced toward the coast
through gardens of palms.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2004 by Ahmed E. Ismail, (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 Arthur Rimbaud (1854 - 1891), "Royauté", appears in Les Illuminations
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2004-07-04
Line count: 10
Word count: 84