Remembrance | Often I think of nothing, like some dumb creature

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by Jean Richepin (1849 - 1926)

Translation © by Corinne Orde

Bien souvent je ne pense à rien, comme...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG ITA

Bien souvent je ne pense à rien, comme une bête,
Soudain un mot bourdonne et passe dans ma tête,
Mot jadis entendu,
Un de ceds mots de rien où vivait tout ton être;
Et je sens mille échos de mon passé renaître
Dans cet écho perdu.

Je me souviens de l'an, du mois, du jour, de l'heure,
Et je ferme les yeux sans rien dire, et je pleure.
Car dans ce mot en l'air
J'entends toutes les voix de ma jeunesse heureuse,
Comme on entend au fond d'une coquille creuse
Chanter toute la mer.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Jean Richepin (1849 - 1926), no title, written 1877, appears in Les Caresses, in 4. Nivôse, no. 28, Paris, Éd. M. Dreyfous, first published 1882 [author's text not yet checked 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 Vierne (1870 - 1937), "Souvenir", op. 48, Heft 4 (Nivôse) no. 2 (1924), published 1927 [medium voice and piano], from Le poème de l'amour, no. 13, Éd. Henry Lemoine [
text verified 1 time
]

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

ENG English (Corinne Orde) , title 1: "Remembrance", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Francesco Campanella) , title 1: "Ricordo", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Corinne Orde

This text was added to the website: 2007-11-23
Line count: 12
Word count: 94

Remembrance

Language: English after the French (Français)

Often I think of nothing, like some dumb creature.
Suddenly a word buzzes and goes through my head,
A word heard long ago,
One of those insignificant words in which your whole being dwelt;
And I sense the rebirth of a thousand echoes of my past
In that lost echo.

I remember the year, the month, the day, the hour,
And I close my eyes without saying anything, and I weep.
For in that idle word
I hear all the voices of my happy youth
As one hears, at the bottom of a hollow shell,
The whole sea singing.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2007 by Corinne Orde, (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 Jean Richepin (1849 - 1926), no title, written 1877, appears in Les Caresses, in 4. Nivôse, no. 28, Paris, Éd. M. Dreyfous, first published 1882
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2007-11-23
Line count: 12
Word count: 99