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De jour merci de nuit prends garde
De douceur la moitié du monde
L'autre montrait rigueur aveugle
Aux veines se lisait un présent sans merci
Aux beautés des contours l'espace limité
Cimentait tous les joints des objets familiers
Table guitare et verre vide
Sur un arpent de terre pleine
De toile blanche d'air nocturne
Table devait se soutenir
Lampe rester pépin de l'ombre
Journal délaissait sa moitié
Deux fois le jour deux fois la nuit
De deux objets un double objet
Un seul ensemble à tout jamais
*
Rien ne servait d'emplir le monde avec des mots
Un mur ne pouvait pas éterniser l'écho
De la vie éphémère au décor répété
Il fallait conserve les images utiles
Aux rues se lisait l'homme et sa soif et sa faim
Et les objets d'amour de ses besoins sublimes
L'obligation de vivre et la passion de vivre
Le pavé de la mort moulu par la vermine
Et le bourgeon poisseux comme un baiser vorace
Mais le geste enfanté par l'objet de raison
Le premier geste du seigneur sur la matière
L'objet du geste libérait l'image utile.
F. Poulenc sets stanzas 1-5
Confirmed with Paul Éluard, Œuvres complètes, Vol. 2, Paris: Gallimard, 1968, Pages 173-174.
Text Authorship:
- by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, "Juan Gris", written 1948, appears in Voir. Poemes, Peintures, Dessins, Genève, Éd. des Trois Collines, first published 1948 [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), "Juan Gris", FP 161 no. 4 (1956), published 1957, stanzas 1-5 [ medium voice and piano ], from Le Travail du peintre, no. 4, Éd. Max Eschig [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Juan Gris", copyright © 2026, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Peter Low) , "Juan Gris", copyright © 2000, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Julia Henning) , "Juan Gris", copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- LIT Lithuanian (Lietuvių kalba) (Giedrius Prunskus) , "Chuanas Grisas", copyright © 2022, (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: 28
Word count: 183
By day give thanks, by night be wary.
Half the world was gentleness,
the other showed blind rigidity.
A merciless present could be read in the veins;
in the beauties of outlines the limited space
cemented all the joints of familiar objects.
A table, a guitar, and an empty glass
on an acre of solid earth
and white canvas and night air.
The table had to hold itself up,
the lamp to remain a seed of shade,
the newspaper was leaving its other half.
Twice a day, twice a night,
from two objects comes a double object,
a single whole forever.
*
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Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2000 by Peter Low, (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, "Juan Gris", written 1948, appears in Voir. Poemes, Peintures, Dessins, Genève, Éd. des Trois Collines, first published 1948
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 102