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Heureux qui meurt ici
Ainsi
Que les oiseaux des champs !
Son corps près des amis
Est mis
Dans l'herbe et dans les chants.
Il dort d'un bon sommeil
Vermeil
Sous le ciel radieux.
Tous ceux qu'il a connus,
Venus,
Lui font de longs adieux.
À sa croix les parents
Pleurants
Restent agenouillés ;
Et ses os, sous les fleurs,
De pleurs
Sont doucement mouillés.
Chacun sur le bois noir
Peut voir
S'il était jeune ou non,
Et peut, avec de vrais
Regrets,
L'appeler par son nom.
Combien plus malchanceux
Sont ceux
Qui meurent à la mé,
Et sous le flot profond
S'en vont
Loin du pays aimé !
Ah ! pauvres, qui pour seuls
Linceuls
Ont les goémons verts
Où l'on roule inconnu
Tout nu,
Et les yeux grands ouverts.
Heureux qui meurt ici
Ainsi
Que les oiseaux des champs !
Son corps près des amis
Est mis
Dans l'herbe et dans les chants.
G. Fauré sets stanzas 1-7, 1
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with T. H. Bertenshaw, Longmans' Advanced French Unseens, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1901, pages 110-111.
Text Authorship:
- by Jean Richepin (1849 - 1926), "Au cimetière", written 1886, appears in La Mer, in 5. Les gas, no. 3, Paris, Maurice Dreyfous, first published 1886 [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 Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Au cimetière", op. 51 no. 2 (1888), published 1888, stanzas 1-7,1 [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by André Fijan (1869 - 1959), "Au Cimetière", published 1914 [ medium voice and piano ], from Deux Mélodies, no. 2, Paris, Éd. Max Eschig [sung text not yet checked]
- by Gustave Michiels (1861 - 1911), "Au cimetière", published [1895] [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Paul Dupont [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Naoumoff (b. 1962), "Sommeil vermeil" [ medium voice and piano ], from Mélodies choisies, no. 8 [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Nele Gramß) , "Auf dem Friedhof", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Alfredo García) , "El cementerio", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 42
Word count: 150
Happy is he who dies here
Just
Like the birds of the fields!
His body among his friends
Is put
In the grass and into song.
He sleeps a good sleep,
Vermilion
Beneath the radiant sky.
All those he knew
Have come
To bid him their long farewells.
At his cross his family,
Weeping,
Remain on their knees;
And his bones, beneath the flowers,
With tears
Are gently moistened.
Each on the blackened wood
Can see
Whether he was young or not,
And can, with true
Regret,
Call him by his name.
How much more unfortunate
Are those
Who die at sea,
And beneath the deep flood
Depart
Far from their beloved land!
Ah! poor souls, who for their only
Shrouds
Have the green seaweed
Where they roll unknown,
Naked,
And with eyes wide open.
Happy is he who dies here
Just
Like the birds of the fields!
His body among his friends
Is put
In the grass and into song.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of titles:
"Au Cimetière" = "At the Cemetery"
"Au cimetière" = "At the Cemetery"
"Sommeil vermeil" = "Vermilion Sleep"
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.
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Jean Richepin (1849 - 1926), "Au cimetière", written 1886, appears in La Mer, in 5. Les gas, no. 3, Paris, Maurice Dreyfous, first published 1886
This text was added to the website: 2026-11-11
Line count: 42
Word count: 161