Since your days have left you nothing

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by Paul Jean Toulet (1867 - 1920)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Puisque tes jours ne t'ont laissé

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG ENG

Puisque tes jours ne t'ont laissé
Qu'un peu de cendre dans la bouche,
Avant qu'on ne tende la couche
Où ton coeur dorme, enfin glacé,
Retourne, comme au temps passé,
Cueillir, près de la dune instable,
Le lys qu'y courbe un souffle amer,
-- Et grave ces mots sur le sable :
Le rêve de l'homme est semblable
Aux illusions de la mer.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Paul Jean Toulet (1867 - 1920), no title, appears in Les Contrerimes, in Dixains, no. 12, Paris, Éd. Le Divan, first published 1921 [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 Louis Beydts (1896 - 1953), "Puisque tes jours ne t'ont laissé", 1945, published 1946 [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ], from d’Ombre et de soleil, no. 8, Éd. Durand [sung text checked 1 time]
by Jacques Leguerney (1906 - 1997), "Puisque tes jours", 1943 [ voice and piano ], from Dix Poèmes de Paul-Jean Toulet, no. 7 [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
ENG English (Laura Stanfield Prichard) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-06-03
Line count: 10
Word count: 61

Since your days have left you nothing

Language: English after the French (Français)

Since your days have left you nothing 
But a few ashes in your mouth,
Before the bed is stretched out
For your heart to sleep on, frozen at last,
Come back, as in time past,
To gather, by the shifting dune,
The lily bent there by a bitter wind,
— And etch these words in the sand:
Man's dreams are like
The illusions of the sea.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Puisque tes jours" = "Since your days"
"Puisque tes jours ne t'ont laissé" = "Since your days have left you nothing"

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 Paul Jean Toulet (1867 - 1920), no title, appears in Les Contrerimes, in Dixains, no. 12, Paris, Éd. Le Divan, first published 1921
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-01-27
Line count: 10
Word count: 66