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 a cloistered 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