Good day I've seen again the one I don't forget

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

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Bonne journée j'ai revu qui je n'oublie...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Bonne journée j'ai revu qui je n'oublie pas
Qui je n'oublierai jamais
Et des femmes fugaces dont les yeux
Me faisaient une haie d'honneur
Elles s'enveloppèrent dans leurs sourires

Bonne journée j'ai vu mes amis sans soucis
Les hommes ne pesaient pas lourd
Un qui passait
Son ombre changée en souris
Fuyait dans le ruisseau

J'ai vu le ciel très grand
Le beau regard des gens privés de tout
Plage distante où personne n'aborde

Bonne journée qui commença mélancolique
Noire sous les arbres verts
Mais qui soudain trempée d'aurore
M'entra dans le coeur par surprise.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Paul Éluard, Œuvres complètes, Vol. 1, Paris: Gallimard, 1968, Pages 498-499.

Text Authorship:

by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, no title, appears in À Pablo Picasso, no. 1, first published 1936 [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), "Bonne journée", FP 86 no. 1 (1937), published 1937 [ high voice and piano ], from Tel jour Telle nuit, no. 1, 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: 17
Word count: 95

Good day I've seen again the one I don't...

Language: English after the French (Français)

Good day I've seen again the one I don't forget 
The one I will never forget 
And the elusive women whose eyes
Formed for me an honor guard
They wrapped themselves in their smiles 

Good day I've seen my carefree friends
The men did not weigh very much
One who was passing 
His shadow become a mouse 
Fled into the gutter 

I've seen the vast sky
The beautiful gaze of people deprived of everything 
Distant shore where no one lands

Good day that was melancholy at first 
Black beneath the green trees 
But which suddenly drenched with dawn 
Entered into my heart by surprise.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Bonne journée" = "Good Day"

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, no title, appears in À Pablo Picasso, no. 1, first published 1936
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-12-20
Line count: 17
Word count: 104