The Destiny of Man | After the heat of Summer

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by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Le destin de l'homme

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Aux ardeurs de l'été
succèdent les langueurs de l'automne.
Aux champs de neige
succèdent les champs des fleurs.
Mais, qu'il se lève ou qu'il se couche,
le soleil est une grande rose !
La mort fait de l'homme
une motte de terre sur laquelle pousse l'herbe.
Et je sais pourquoi notre respiration
n'est qu'un perpétuel soupir...

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade : poésies chinoises, Paris: H. Piazza, 1920, pages 125-126.

Text Authorship:

by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "Le destin de l'homme", appears in La flûte de jade [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 Henk Badings (1907 - 1987), "Le destin de l'homme", 1973 [ mixed chorus ], from Cinq poèmes chinois, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "The Destiny of Man", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2024-11-06
Line count: 10
Word count: 55

The Destiny of Man

Language: English after the French (Français)

After the heat of Summer
comes the lassitude of Autumn.
After fields of snow
come fields of flowers.
But, whether rising or setting,
the sun is a vast rose!
Death makes of man
a clump of earth where grass may grow.
And I know why our breathing 
is but a perpetual sigh ...

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 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 Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "Le destin de l'homme", appears in La flûte de jade
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-04-09
Line count: 10
Word count: 52