Dans la Nymphée
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): CAT DUT ENG GER
Quoique tes yeux ne la voient pas,
Sache, en ton âme, qu'elle est là,
Comme autrefois divine et blanche.
Sur ce bord reposent ses mains.
Sa tête est entre ces jasmins ;
Là, ses pieds effleurent les branches.
Elle sommeille en ces rameaux.
Ses lèvres et ses yeux sont clos,
Et sa bouche à peine respire.
Parfois, la nuit, dans un éclair
Elle apparaît les yeux ouverts,
Et l'éclair dans ses yeux se mire.
Un bref éblouissement bleu
La découvre en ses longs cheveux ;
Elle s'éveille, elle se lève.
Et tout un jardin ébloui
S'illumine au fond de la nuit,
Dans le rapide éclair d'un rêve.
Confirmed with van Lerberghe, Charles,
Entrevisions, suivi de Poèmes posthumes, Paris, G. Crès, 1923, pages 32-33.
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Al nimfeu", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) (Pieter van der Woel) , "In de nimf, de waterlelie", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (David Arkell) , "In the grotto", copyright © 2021, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Im Nymphenheiligtum", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Didier Pelat
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 107
In the grotto
Language: English  after the French (Français)
Although your eyes do not see her,
In your soul, know she is there,
Pure and white as in olden times.
Her hands rest on this bank.
Her head is between these jasmines;
There her feet graze the boughs.
She sleeps among these branches.
Her lips and eyes are closed,
And her mouth scarcely breathes.
Sometimes at night,
she appears with open eyes like lightning,
And the lightning is reflected in her eyes.
A brief blue dazzle
Reveals her long hair;
She awakes, she arises.
The whole bedazzled garden
Is illuminated in the depth of night,
In the rapid flash of a dream.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2021 by David Arkell, (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.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2021-11-16
Line count: 18
Word count: 103