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by Marc Chagall (1887 - 1985)
Translation by Sophy Schulman

Mine alone, is the country in my soul
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
Chosen for Diff
Mine alone
Is the country in my soul
I enter there without a passport
As if it is my home.
It sees my sadness
And my solitude
It lulls me to sleep
And covers me with a heavy perfume.
In me gardens bloom.
The flowers are my creations
The streets belong to me
But there are no houses,
They were destroyed in their infancy.
The inhabitants roam the air
In search of a home;
They dwell in my soul.
For this reason I smile
When my sun barely shines
Or cry
Like a light rain
In the night.
There was a time when I had two heads.
There was a time when these two faces
Covered themselves in an amorous dew
And dissolved into the perfume of a rose.

At present it seems to me
That even when I retreat
I press on
Toward a lofty portal
Behind which stretch out walls
Where sleep faint thunder
And shattered bolts of lighting.

Mine alone
Is the country found in my soul.

Text Authorship:

  • by Sophy Schulman  [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Marc Chagall (1887 - 1985), "Seul est mien" [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

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

  • by Anna Dobrucka (b. 1989), "Mine alone, is the country in my soul", 2024-2025 [ countertenor and mixed chorus ] [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-08-12
Line count: 34
Word count: 170

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