Dans le cèdre, des colombes
se sont posées pour la nuit.
Longtemps hésitantes,
elles avaient tournoyé au-dessus
de l'arbre solitaire.
Maintenant elles vont s'endormir.
Comme chaque nuit, au sommet
de la plus haute branche,
un rossignol chantera.
Ainsi je berce souvent ton sommeil
de paroles d'amour.
Je crois que le même instinct
guide les colombes et les jeunes filles
vers les jardins où chantent les rossignols.
Text Authorship:
Based on:
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 Aubert (1877 - 1968), "Le sommeil des colombes", 1917, published 1917 [ medium voice and piano or orchestra ], from Six poèmes arabes, no. 4, Paris, Édition Durand [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Constantin Brăiloiu (1893 - 1958), "Le sommeil des colombes", 1912, published 1913 [ high voice, piano, violin, violoncello ], from Trois poèmes arabes, no. 2, Paris, Éditions Albert Zunz Mathot [sung text not yet checked]
- by André-Marie Cuvelier (d. 1947), "Le sommeil des colombes", 1922/1936 [ high voice and piano ], from Chansons pour Hélène, 1er recueil, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jean Déré (1886 - 1970), "Le sommeil des colombes", published 1921 [ voice and piano ], from Quatre chants arabes, no. 3, Éd. Maurice Sénart (Salabert) [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jacqueline Despas (1893 - 1968), "Le sommeil des colombes", published 1923 [ medium voice and piano ], from Poèmes Arabes, no. 2, Paris, Éd. Jobert [sung text not yet checked]
- by M.-A. Guyot , "Le Sommeil des colombes" [ voice and piano ], from Deux mélodies, no. 1, Paris : éditions Maurice Sénart, 1926 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Julien-Fernand Vaubourgoin (1880 - 1952), "Le sommeil des colombes", published 1927 [ voice and piano ], Bordeaux, Paris : Delmouly-Degorge, G. Berger [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2013-12-11
Line count: 14
Word count: 66
In the cedar, doves
have settled for the night.
Hesitating for a long while,
they had circled above
the solitary tree.
Now they are about to go to sleep.
As on all nights, at the top
of the highest branch
a nightingale will sing.
So do I often beguile your sleep
with words of love.
I believe the same instinct
guides doves and young girls
towards gardens where nightingales sing.
