Day surprises me and night frightens me

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

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Le jour m’étonne et la nuit me fait peur

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Le jour m’étonne et la nuit me fait peur
L’été me hante et l’hiver me poursuit

Un animal sur la neige a posé
Ses pattes sur le sable ou dans la boue
Ses pattes venues de plus loin que mes pas
Sur une piste où la mort
A les empreintes de la vie.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• F. Poulenc

F. Poulenc sets stanzas 1, 2, 1

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Paul Éluard, Œuvres complètes, Vol. 1, Paris: Gallimard, 1968, Page 1110.

Text Authorship:

by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, "Un loup" [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 Francis Poulenc (1899 - 1963), "Le jour m’étonne et la nuit me fait peur", FP 120 no. 6 (1943), first performed 1946, stanzas 1,2,1 [ chorus ], from cantata Figure humaine, no. 6, Éditions Salabert [sung text checked 1 time]

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2021-01-22
Line count: 7
Word count: 53

Day surprises me and night frightens me

Language: English after the French (Français)

Day surprises me and night frightens me
Summer haunts me and Winter pursues me

An animal has placed on the snow
Its paws on the sand or in the mud
Its paws come from farther away than my footsteps
On a track where death
Bears the imprints of life.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Le jour m’étonne et la nuit me fait peur" = "Day surprises me and night frightens me"
"Un loup" = "A Wolf"

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 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.
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Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, "Un loup"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-04-18
Line count: 7
Word count: 49