A wreck empty shell

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

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Une ruine coquille vide

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Une ruine coquille vide
Pleure dans son tablier
Les enfants qui jouent autour d'elle
Font moins de bruit que des mouches

La ruine s'en va à tâtons
Chercher ses vaches dans un pré
J'ai vu le jour je vois cela
Sans en avoir honte

Il est minuit comme une flèche
Dans un coeur à la portée
Des folâtres lueurs nocturnes
Qui contredisent le sommeil.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Paul Éluard, Œuvres complètes, Vol. 1, Paris: Gallimard, 1968, Page 495.

Text Authorship:

by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, "Je croyais le repos possible" [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), "Une ruine coquille vide", FP 86 no. 2 (1936), published 1937 [ high voice and piano ], from Tel jour Telle nuit, no. 2, Éd. Durand [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , 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 between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 64

A wreck empty shell

Language: English after the French (Français)

A wreck empty shell
Weeps into her apron
The children playing around her
Make less noise than flies

The wreck gropes her way out
To look for her cows in a meadow 
I've seen the daylight I see that 
Without being ashamed 

It is midnight like an arrow 
In a heart within reach 
Of the playful nighttime glimmers 
That contradict sleep.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Je croyais le repos possible" = "I believed rest was possible"
"Une ruine coquille vide" = "A wreck empty shell"

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 Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, "Je croyais le repos possible"
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-12-20
Line count: 12
Word count: 61