Spring | Around it no flowers, no ivy, but only a meadow

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by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Source

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Ni fleurs ni lierre autour, mais seulement un pré,
Et sa maçonnerie était un bloc carré.
S’il est beau d’être bon, il est bon d’être utile :
D’un tuyau de métal, l’eau s’écoulait tranquille.
On n’eut rencontré là ni Daphnis ni Chloé,
Mais les cultivateurs, fiers d’avoir érigé
Ce petit monument à cette source agreste,
Y sculptaient en buvant la grâce de leur gestes.

Confirmed with Francis Jammes, Ma France poétique, Paris: Mercure de France, 1926, Page 194.

Text Authorship:

by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), "Source", appears in Ma France poétique, in 2. Eau, in 1. Sources et fontaines, no. 3 [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 Darius Milhaud (1892 - 1974), "Source", op. 352 no. 6 (1956), published 1956 [ soprano and orchestra or piano ], from Fontaines et sources, no. 6, Paris, Éd. Pathé Marconi [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Spring", 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: 2020-02-17
Line count: 8
Word count: 63

Spring

Language: English after the French (Français)

Around it no flowers, no ivy, but only a meadow,
And its masonry was a squared-off block.
If it is beautiful to be good, it's good to be useful:
From a metal pipe, water flowed placidly.
You wouldn't have met Daphnis or Chloe there,
But the farmers, proud of having erected 
This little monument at this rustic spring,
Carved it while drinking in the grace of their movements.

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 Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), "Source", appears in Ma France poétique, in 2. Eau, in 1. Sources et fontaines, no. 3
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-06-25
Line count: 8
Word count: 68