Cloud | In a corner of my days

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by Laurence de Beylié (1893 - 1968)

Translation © by Peter Low

Nuage

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

J'ai vu reluire, en un coin de mes âges,
un souvenir qui n'était plus à moi
Son père était le temps
sa mère une guitare qui jouait sur des rêves errants
Leur enfant tomba dans mes mains
et je le posai sur un chène
Un oiseau en prit soin, maintenant il chante
Comment retrouver son père voilé de vent
et comment recueillir les larmes de sa mère
pour lui donner un nom
dans le passage d'un nuage
nous verrons poindre l'éternité chassant le temps
En ce point tout est écrit.

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Text Authorship:

by Laurence de Beylié (1893 - 1968) [author's text not yet checked 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), "Nuage", FP 162 (1956), published 1957, first performed 1957 [ medium voice and piano ], from Deux Mélodies, no. 2, from Six mélodies, no. 5, Éd. Max Eschig [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Peter Low) , "Cloud", copyright © 2001, (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: 13
Word count: 90

Cloud

Language: English after the French (Français)

In a corner of my days
I saw a shining memory that was no longer mine.
Its father was time,
its mother was a guitar playing on top of wandering dreams.
Their child fell into my hands
and I placed it on an oak-tree.
A bird took care of it and now it sings.
How can we find its father veiled in wind?
How can we collect its mother's tears
so as to give it a name?
As a cloud passes
we will glimpse the arrival of eternity banishing time.
On that matter, nothing more can be written.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2001 by Peter Low, (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 Laurence de Beylié (1893 - 1968)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 13
Word count: 98