Qui vient finir le temple de l'Amour ?
Language: French (Français)
Qui vient finir le temple de l'Amour ?
Chacun en emporte une colonne ;
et à la fin tout le monde s'étonne
que le dieu à son tour
de sa flèche brise l'enceinte.
(Tel nous le connaissons.)
Et sur ce mur d'abandon
pousse la plainte.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with The Complete French Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, Saint Paul: Greywolf Press, 1986, Page 152.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Harold C. King (1895 - 1984), "Vergers XVII", 1983, from O Leben, Leben, wunderliche Zeit, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Léon Orthel (1905 - 1985), "Qui vient finir le temple", op. 61 no. 5 (1972), published 1972 [ voice and piano ], from Sept mélodies, no. 5, Amsterdam, Ed. Donemus [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: 8
Word count: 43
Who is coming to finish Love's temple?
Language: English after the French (Français)
Who is coming to finish Love's temple?
Each one brings a column;
and at the end everyone is astonished
that the god in his turn
breaches the wall with his arrow.
(We know he is like this.)
And on this wall of abandon
the complaint grows.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of titles:
"Qui vient finir le temple" = "Who is coming to finish the temple"
"Vergers XVII" = "Orchards XVII"
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.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2025-08-31
Line count: 8
Word count: 46
