Figure of strength fiery and untamed | Figure of strength fiery and untamed

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by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Figure de force brûlante et farouche

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Figure de force brûlante et farouche
Cheveux noirs où l'or coule vers le sud
Aux nuits corrompues
Or englouti étoile impure
Dans un lit jamais partagé.

Aux veines des tempes
Comme aux bouts des seins
La vie se refuse.
Les yeux nul ne peut les crever
Boire leur éclat ni leurs larmes.
Le sang au-dessus d'eux triomphe pour lui seul.

Intraitable démesurée
Inutile
Cette santé bâtit une prison.

Text Authorship:

by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard [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 Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963), "Figure de force brûlante et farouche", FP 86 no. 8 (1937), published 1937 [ high voice and piano ], from Tel jour Telle nuit, no. 8, Éd. Durand [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Figure of strength fiery and untamed", 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 between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 68

Figure of strength fiery and untamed

Language: English after the French (Français)

Figure of strength fiery and untamed 
Black hair where gold flows southwards
On corrupted nights
Sunken gold impure star
In a bed never shared.

In the veins of the temples
As at the tips of the breasts
Life denies itself.
The eyes none can put them out
Drink their brightness nor their tears.
Blood triumphs over them only for itself.

Intractable immoderate 
Useless 
This health built a prison.

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 Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-12-20
Line count: 14
Word count: 68