We have made the night I hold your hand I watch over you

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

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Nous avons fait la nuit je tiens ta main...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Nous avons fait la nuit je tiens ta main je veille
Je te soutiens de toutes mes forces
Je grave sur un roc l'étoile de tes forces.
Sillons profonds où la bonté de ton corps germera
Je me répète ta voix cachée ta voix publique
Je ris encore de l'orgueilleuse
Que tu traites comme une mendiante
Des fous que tu respectes des simples où tu te baignes.
Et dans ma tête qui se met doucement d'accord avec la tienne avec la nuit
Je m'émerveille de l'inconnue que tu deviens
Une inconnue semblable à toi semblable à tout ce que j'aime
Qui est toujours nouveau.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Paul Éluard, Œuvres complètes, Vol. 1, Paris: Gallimard, 1968, Pages 465-466.

Text Authorship:

by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, no title, appears in Les yeux fertiles, 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), "Nous avons fait la nuit", FP 86 no. 9 (1937), published 1937 [ high voice and piano ], from Tel jour Telle nuit, no. 9, 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: 12
Word count: 104

We have made the night I hold your hand...

Language: English after the French (Français)

We have made the night I hold your hand I watch over you 
I sustain you with all my strength 
I carve on a rock the star of your strength.
Deep furrows where the goodness of your body will sprout 
I repeat to myself your hidden voice your public voice 
I still laugh at the haughty woman 
You treat as a beggar
At the fools you respect at the simple folk you immerse yourself in.
And in my head that gently attunes itself to yours to the night 
I marvel at the unknown that you become 
An unknown resembling you resembling everything that I love
Who is ever new.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Nous avons fait la nuit" = "We have made the night"

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 Les yeux fertiles, first published 1936
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-12-20
Line count: 12
Word count: 109