Discretion | I want you, if I say these simple words: "the rose,"

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by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Discrétion

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Je veux que si je dis ces simples mots: «la rose»,
Sans que j'ajoute rien au nom de cette fleur,
Vous la ressentiez toute ainsi qu'une âme close
Nous livre ses vertus par sa seule pudeur.

Note: in Papineau-Couture's score, part of the word "âme" is missing.

Text Authorship:

by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), "Discrétion", written 1923-25, appears in Les livres des quatrains, in 4. Quatrième livre, no. 59 [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 Jean Papineau-Couture (1916 - 2000), "Discrétion", 1947, copyright © 1947 [ high voice and piano ], from Quatrains, no. 7, Montréal, Éd. Doberman-Yppan [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Discretion", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2017-01-24
Line count: 4
Word count: 36

Discretion

Language: English after the French (Français)

I want you, if I say these simple words: "the rose,"
Without adding anything to the name of that flower,
To experience all of it, just as an enclosed soul
Reveals to us its virtues by its modesty alone.

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), "Discrétion", written 1923-25, appears in Les livres des quatrains, in 4. Quatrième livre, no. 59
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-09-13
Line count: 4
Word count: 39