by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 - 1949)
Translation Singable translation by John (or Jack) William Mackail (1859 - 1945)

Melisande's song
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
Available translation(s): GER
The King's three blind daughters
Sit locked in a hold.
In the darkness their lamps
Make a glimmer of gold.

Up the stair of the turret
The sisters are gone,
Seven days they wait there
And the lamps they burn on.

"What hope?" says the first,
And leans o'er the flame.
"I hear our lamps burning.
O yet! if he came!"

"O hope!" says the second,
"Was that the lamps' flare,
Or a sound of low footsteps?
The Prince on the stair!"

But the holiest sister
She turns her about:
"O no hope now for ever,
Our lamps are gone out!"

Authorship

Based on

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

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

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Melisandes Lied", copyright © 2005, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Bertram Kottmann

This text was added to the website: 2005-03-01
Line count: 20
Word count: 101