Il la prend dans ses bras
Lueurs brillantes un instant entrevues
Aux omoplates aux épaules aux seins
Puis cachées par un nuage.

Elle porte la main [à]1 son coeur
Elle pâlit elle frissonne
Qui donc a crié ?

Mais l'autre s'il est [encore]2 vivant
On le retrouvera
Dans une ville inconnue.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Paul Éluard, Œuvres complètes, Vol. 1, Paris: Gallimard, 1968, Page 301.

¹ Poulenc: "sur"
² Poulenc: "encor"

Text Authorship:

• by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, no title, written 1930, appears in À toute épreuve , in Confections, no. 9, appears in La vie immédiate, in Confections, no. 21, Éd. Surréalistes, first published 1930 [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), "Il la prend dans ses bras", FP 77 no. 2 (1935), published 1935 [ medium voice and piano ], from Cinq Poèmes de Paul Éluard, no. 2, Éd. Durand [sung text checked 1 time]

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

• ENG English (Peter Low) , "He takes her into his arms", copyright © 2002, (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: 10
Word count: 52