Ki Fong | The breeze has just come up

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by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Ki‑Fong

Language: French (Français) after the Chinese (中文)

Our translations: ENG

La brise vient d'accourir.
Cet arbre a des frissons de jeune fille amoureuse.
Des poissons luisants sautent à la surface du lac.
Des pétales de lotus vont à la dérive,
avec des équipages de papillons.
Je me demande si ma femme
se doute que je ne suis pas à mes affaires. . .

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, La flûte de jade : poésies chinoises, Paris: H. Piazza, 1920, page 96.

Text Authorship:

by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "Ki Fong" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Chinese (中文) by Tschang-So-Su (1428 - 1473) [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Marius-François Gaillard (1900 - 1973), "Ki-Fong", published 1926 [ voice and piano ], from Quatre mélodies chinoises, no. 3, Paris : Choudens [sung text not yet checked]
by Pierre, Baron de Maurice (1868 - 1936), "Ki-Fong", op. 36 no. 4 (1925-1926), published [1927] [ voice and piano ], from La flûte de jade: Sept Poésies chinoises traduites par Franz Toussaint, no. 4, London, Oxford University Press [sung text not yet checked]
by Armande de Polignac (1876 - 1962), "Ki-Fong", published 1922 [ medium voice and piano ], from La flûte de jade, no. 6, Genève, Éd. A. Henn, also set in English [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in English, a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Armande de Polignac.
- Go to the text.

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Ki Fong", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Grant Hicks [Guest Editor] , Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2008-02-19
Line count: 7
Word count: 53

Ki Fong

Language: English after the French (Français)

The breeze has just come up.
This tree trembles like a maiden in love.
Gleaming fish leap to the surface of the lake.
Lotus petals drift about,
with companies of butterflies.
I wonder if my wife
suspects I am not about my business...

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), "Ki Fong"
- Go to the text page.

Based on:

a text in Chinese (中文) by Tschang-So-Su (1428 - 1473) [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-04-15
Line count: 7
Word count: 43