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To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Translation © by Guy Laffaille

My heart and tongue were twins
Language: English 
Our translations:  FRE
My heart and tongue were twins at once conceived,
Th'eldest was my heart, born dumb by Destiny,
The last my tongue, of all sweet thoughts bereaved:
Yet strung and tun'd to play heart's harmony.
Both knit in one and yet asunder placed:
What heart would speak the tongue doth still discover.

What tongue doth speak is of the heart embraced,
And both are one to make a new found lover
New found, and only found in gods and kings,
Whose words are deeds, but words nor deeds regarded.
Chaste thoughts do mount and fly with swiftest wings,
My love with pain, my pain with loss rewarded.

Then this be sure, since it is true perfection,
That neither men nor gods can force affection.

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked 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 John Dowland (1562 - 1626), "My heart and tongue were twins" [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , title 1: "Mon cœur et ma langue étaient jumeaux", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 123

Mon cœur et ma langue étaient jumeaux
Language: French (Français)  after the English 
Mon cœur et ma langue ont été conçus à la fois,
L'aîné était mon cœur, né muet par la destinée,
La benjamine ma langue, affligée de toutes les douces pensées :
Pourtant encordée et accordée pour jouer l'harmonie du cœur.
Tous les deux unis en un et pourtant placés à distance :
Ce que le cœur voudrait dire la langue doit encore le découvrir.

Ce que la langue doit dire est étreint par le cœur,
Et tous les deux sont un à créer un amant de fraîche date,
De fraîche date, et seulement trouvé parmi les dieux et les rois,
Dont les mots sont actions, mais ni mots ni actions ne sont considérés.
Des pensées chastes montent et volent avec les ailes les plus rapides,
Mon amour récompensé par la douleur, ma douleur récompensée par la perte.

Alors ce qui est sûr, puisque c'est la vraie perfection,
C'est que ni hommes ni dieux ne peuvent forcer l'affection.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2010 by Guy Laffaille, (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 English by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2010-03-01
Line count: 14
Word count: 155

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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