Soulêve ta paupière close
Qu'effleure un songe virginal ;
Je suis le spectre d'une rose
Que tu portais hier au bal.
Tu me pris encore emperlée
Des pleurs d'argent de l'arrosoir,
Et, parmi la fête étoilée,
Tu me promenas tout le soir.

Ô toi qui de ma mort fus cause,
Sans que tu puisses le chasser,
[Toute la nuit]1 mon spectre rose
À ton chevet viendra danser :
Mais ne crains rien, je ne réclame
Ni messe ni De Profundis ;
Ce léger parfum est mon âme,
Et j'arrive du du paradis.

Mon destin fut digne d'envie ;
[Pour avoir un trépas]2 si beau,
Plus d'un aurait donné sa vie,
[Car j'ai ta gorge pour]3 tombeau,
Et sur l'albâtre où je repose
Un poète, avec un baiser,
Écrivit : Ci-gît une rose
Que tous les rois vont jalouser.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)

Confirmed with Théophile Gauthier, La comédie de la mort, Desessart editeur, Paris, 1838, page 225.

¹ Berlioz: "Toutes les nuits"
² Berlioz: "Et pour avoir un sort"
³ Berlioz: "Car sur ton sein j'ai mon"

Authorship:

• by Pierre-Jules-Théophile Gautier (1811 - 1872), "Le spectre de la rose", written 1837, appears in La Comédie de la Mort, first published 1838 [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 François Emmanuel Joseph Bazin (1816 - 1878), "Le spectre de la rose", published 1845 [ soprano and piano ], Paris, S. Richault [sung text not yet checked]
• by Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869), "Le spectre de la rose", op. 7 no. 2 (1856) [ voice and orchestra ], from Les Nuits d'Été, no. 2, also set in German (Deutsch) [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Paul Bertrie , "Le spectre de la rose", published [1873] [ high voice and piano ], Paris, Aymard Dignat [sung text not yet checked]
• by Patrick Burgan (b. 1960), "Le spectre de la rose", H. 83A (1995), published 2001 [ mezzo-soprano or baritone and piano ], Paris, Jobert [sung text not yet checked]
• by Gaston Doin (1878 - 1962), "Le spectre de la rose", published 1951 [ voice and piano ], from Quelques émaux et camées, no. 2, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
• by Cornelis (Dronsberg) van der Linden (1876 - 1964), "Le spectre de la rose" [sung text not yet checked]
• by de Lowenthal, Mme. , "Le spectre de la rose" [sung text not yet checked]
• by Charles-Henri Maréchal (1842 - 1924), "Le spectre de la rose", published 1894 [ high voice and piano ], from Deux mélodies, no. 1, Paris, E. Deplaix [sung text not yet checked]
• by Alfred Mutel (1820 - 1892), "Le spectre de la rose", published 1864 [ high voice and piano ], from 60 Mélodies avec accompagnement de piano (1883-1886), 1^er volume, no. 25, Paris, E. & A. Girod [sung text not yet checked]
• by Édouard Pascal , "Le spectre de la rose", published 1874 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from 25 Morceaux de chant, 2^ème recueil, no. 19 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Felipe Pedrell (1841 - 1922), "Le spectre de la rose", published 1877 [ high voice and piano ], from Consolations - 12 Mélodies sur des poésies de Théophile Gautier, no. 12, Milan: Francesco Lucca [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Émile Pessard (1843 - 1917), "Le spectre de la rose", 1873, published 1873 [ medium voice and piano ], from Joyeusetés de bonne compagnie, recueillies et mises en musique, no. 14, Éd. Alphonse Leduc [sung text not yet checked]
• by Henri-Pierre Poupard (1901 - 1989), as Henri Sauguet, "Le spectre de la rose", 1930 [ medium voice and piano ], from Deux mélodies romantiques sur la rose, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Jean-Théodore Radoux (1835 - 1911), "Fantaisie -- Le spectre de la rose", published 1875 [ voice and piano ], from Vingt mélodies, 2ème recueil, no. 17 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ferdinand Raynal , "Rêve d'une rose", published 1878 [ voice and piano ], Bordeaux, Emile Marchand [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Peter Cornelius (1824 - 1874) , "Der Geist der Rose" ; composed by Hector Berlioz.
  • Go to the text.
    

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

• CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ENG English (Emily Ezust) , no title, copyright ©
• FRI Frisian [singable] (Geart van der Meer) , "De siele fan de roas", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Lo spettro della rosa", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Pierre Mathé [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 138

Open your closed eyelid
Which is gently brushed by a virginal dream!
I am the ghost of the rose
That you wore last night at the ball.
You took me when I was still sprinkled with pearls
Of silvery tears from the watering-can,
And, among the sparkling festivities,
You carried me the entire night.

O you, who caused my death:
Without the power to chase it away,
You will be visited every night by my ghost,
Which will dance at your bedside.
But fear nothing; I demand
Neither Mass nor De Profundis;
This mild perfume is my soul,
And I've come from Paradise.

My destiny is worthy of envy;
And to have a fate so fine,
More than one would give his life
For on your breast I have my tomb,
And on the alabaster where I rest,
A poet with a kiss
Wrote: "Here lies a rose,
Of which all kings may be jealous."