Les lavandières
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
Au clair de lune,
Femmes, que lavez-vous
Toutes trois à genoux
Près de la source brune?
Au clair de lune,
Femmes, que lavez-vous?
Sur cette rive
Que tardez-vous ainsi?
(Dans le bois obscurci
Monte une voix plaintive...)
Sur cette rive
Que tardez-vous ainsi?
Pâles laveuses,
Dites-moi votre nom!
Quel oeuvre de Démon
Font vos mains ténébreuses?
Pâles laveuses,
Dites-moi votre nom!
--Je suis Misère,
--Moi je suis Trahison.
--Moi, ma blanche maison
C'est le froid cimetière.
--Je suis Misère,
--Moi je suis Trahison.
Dites, par grâce,
Quel est ce noir lambeau?
(Ah! le froid du tombeau
Me saisit et me glace!)
Dites, par grâce,
Quel est ce noir lambeau?
Enfant du rêve,
Ce lambeau, c'est ton coeur,
Dans l'eau de la douleur,
Nous le plongeons sans trêve.
Enfant du rêve,
Ce lambeau, c'est ton coeur!
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Iain Sneddon) , "Washerwomen", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2009-10-20
Line count: 36
Word count: 135
Washerwomen
Language: English  after the French (Français)
In the moonlight,
Women, what do you wash
All three of you on your knees
Near the brown spring?
In the moonlight,
Women, what do you wash?
On this bank
What are you delaying?
(In the darkened woods
Rises a sorrowful voice...)
On this bank
What are you delaying?
Pale washers,
Tell me your name!
What a work of the Devil
Do your hands make darkness?
Pale washers,
Tell me your name!
"I am Misery,”
"Me, I am Treason."
"I, my white house,
It is the cold graveyard.”
"I am Misery,”
"I am Treason."
Say, for goodness' sake,
What is this black rag?
(Ah, the chill of the tomb
Grabs me and freezes me!)
Say, for goodness' sake,
What is this black rag?
Child of dream,
This scrap is your heart,
Into the water of pain,
We relentlessly dive.
Child of dream,
This scrap is your heart!
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2024 by Iain Sneddon, (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:
This text was added to the website: 2024-02-29
Line count: 36
Word count: 147