Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.
It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.
If you wish to reprint translations, please use the Reprint Basket (upper right hand corner).
Reminder: You must always use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.
Se replier [toujours]1 sur soi-même, si morne! Comme un drap lourd, qu'aucun dessin de fleur n'adorne. Se replier, s'appesantir et se tasser Et se toujours, en angles noirs et mats, casser. Si morne! et se toujours interdire l'envie De tailler en drapeaux l'étoffe de sa vie. Tapir entre les plis ses mauvaises fureurs Et ses rancœurs et ses douleurs et ses erreurs. Ni les frissons soyeux, ni les moires fondantes Mais les pointes en soi des épingles ardents. Oh ! le paquet qu'on pousse ou qu'on jette à l'écart, Si morne et lourd, sur un rayon, dans un bazar. Déjà sentir la bouche âcre des moisissures Gluer, et les taches s'étendre en leurs morsures. Pourrir, immensément emmaillotté d'ennui ; Être l'ennui qui se replie en de la nuit. Tandis que lentement, dans les laines ourdies, De part en part, mordent les vers des maladies.
1 omitted by Ravel.
Text Authorship:
- by Émile Verhaeren (1855 - 1916), "Si morne !", appears in Les débâcles, first published 1888 [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 Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937), "Si morne!" [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Stanfield Prichard) , "So gloomy!", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (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: 18
Word count: 143
To curl up [always]1 upon oneself, how dismal! Like a heavy cloth, unadorned by any floral design. To curl up, grow heavy and shrink And still to shatter into dull, dark angles. How dismal! and still to forbid oneself the urge To trim into banners the fabric of one's life. To secrete among the folds one's terrible rages And one's resentments and one's sorrows and one's errors. Neither silken shivers, nor melting iridescences But the points within oneself of red-hot pins. Oh! the package that is pushed or tossed aside, So dismal and heavy, on a shelf, in a bazaar. Already to feel the acrid mouth of the mildew Clinging, and the stains spreading out in its bites. To rot, hugely enveloped in ennui; To be the ennui that curls up into night. While slowly, in warped strands of wool, From end to end, gnaw the worms of sickness.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text without footnotesTranslations of titles:
"Si morne !" = "How dismal!"
"Si morne!" = "How Dismal!"
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 Émile Verhaeren (1855 - 1916), "Si morne !", appears in Les débâcles, first published 1888
This text was added to the website: 2026-08-20
Line count: 18
Word count: 150