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Voici venir sur la pelouse Les rayons du soleil qui meurt : Avec son murmure [endormeur]1 Voici venir l'ombre jalouse : J'écoute, et les voix du printemps Font gémir la feuille éveillée. J'aime le soir el la veillée : La veillée est douce, et j'attends. J'attends que la forêt se voile, Et qu'au fond du ciel mon regard Se perde et rencontre au hasard Le regard tremblant d'une étoile. Au milieu des mondes flottants, Seule dans sa mélancolie, Glissera la lune pâlie ; La veillée est douce, et j'attends. Si, du moins, dans le vallon même Où le soir je viens l'appeler, J'entendais doucement parler Celle que je pleure et qui m'aime ; Je crois l'entendre par instants, Mais c'est quelque feuille envolée. Ah ! je n'aime plus la veillée : La veillée est triste, et j'attends.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)The poem is headed with the following two epigraphs:
Pasco mi di dolor, piangendo rido,
Egualmente mi spiace morte e vita,
In questo stato son, donna, per vui.
PETRARCA
Nos fleurs gardent son souffle et nos échos sa voix.
ÉMILE DESCHAMPS
1 Viardot: "enchanteur"Text Authorship:
- by Edouard Turquety (1807 - 1867), "Villanelle", appears in Esquisses poétiques, Paris, Éd. Delangle Frères, first published 1829 [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 Mélanie Adélaïde Simplice Dentu (1806 - 1874), "L'Attente", subtitle: "Rêverie", published 1879 [ high voice, unaccompanied ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles-Léon Hess (1844 - 1926), "Villanelle", published 1878-1879 [ medium voice and piano ], in Journal du Musique, no. 77 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Émile Millet (1813 - 1882), "La veillée", subtitle: "Mélodie", published c1877 [ medium voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 15, Paris, Éd. Choudens [sung text not yet checked]
- by Pauline Viardot-García (1821 - 1910), "Villanelle", VWV 1083 (1843), published 1850 [ voice and piano ], from 10 Mélodies, no. 5 [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-12-30
Line count: 24
Word count: 131
Now across the lawn come The rays of the dying sun; With its [narcotic]1 murmur Now the jealous shadow comes; I listen, and the voices of spring Draw a moan from the awakened leaf. I love the dusk and the evening hours: The evening hours are sweet, and I wait. I wait for the forest to grow dim, And for my gaze to lose itself In the depths of the sky, and to meet By chance the trembling gaze of a star. Among the floating worlds, Alone in its melancholy, The pale moon will glide: The evening hours are sweet, and I wait. If only in the very vale Where at dusk I come to call to her, I could at least hear her speak softly, The one I lament and who loves me; There are moments I think I hear her, But it is just some leaf in flight. Ah! I no longer love the evening hours: The evening hours are sad, and I wait.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Translations of titles:
"L'Attente" = "Waiting"
"La veillée" = "The Evening Hours"
"Villanelle" = "Villanelle"
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 Edouard Turquety (1807 - 1867), "Villanelle", appears in Esquisses poétiques, Paris, Éd. Delangle Frères, first published 1829
This text was added to the website: 2025-08-09
Line count: 24
Word count: 167