Siren | The Siren had your clear eyes

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.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Sirène

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

La Sirène avait tes yeux clairs, 
Tes chers yeux inconstants et vagues,
Tes yeux pâles et sans éclairs, 
Tes yeux de la couleur des vagues. 

Et la Sirène avait ta voix, 
Ta voix troublante d'enfant blonde,
Quand elle attirait autrefois 
Les marins sous la mer profonde.

Et n'avait-elle pas ton cœur, 
Lorsque la perfide adorable
Souriait, de son air moqueur, 
A ces morts couchés sur le sable ?

Confirmed with Jean Lahor, L'Illusion, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1888, page 61.

Note: in the third edition of L'Illusion, published in 1893, there was a typo in stanza 1, line 2, word 4 ("insconstants"). This typo did not appear in the 1888 edition.

Text Authorship:

by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Sirène", written 1875, appears in L'Illusion, in 1. Chants de l'Amour et de la Mort, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1875 [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 François Berthet (1873 - 1956), "Sirène", op. 11 no. 7 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. Rouart-Lerolle [sung text not yet checked]
by Robert Ravarin (1890 - 1917), "Sirène", op. 1 (1906) [ high voice and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]
by Sebastian Benson Schlesinger (1837 - 1917), "Sirène", op. 76 no. 3 [ voice and piano ], A. Quinzard [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Siren", copyright © 2025, (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: 2014-06-12
Line count: 12
Word count: 68

Siren

Language: English after the French (Français)

The Siren had your clear eyes,
Your dear eyes, fickle and vague,
Your pale eyes without a spark,
Your eyes the color of waves.

And the Siren had your voice,
Your disturbing voice of a blonde child,
When in the past she would lure
Sailors under the deep sea.

And didn't she have your heart,
When the adorable betrayer
Smiled, with her mocking air,
At those who lay dead on the sand?

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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 Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Sirène", written 1875, appears in L'Illusion, in 1. Chants de l'Amour et de la Mort, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1875
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-05-05
Line count: 12
Word count: 72