Barely Disfigured | Farewell sadness

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

Translation © by Grant Hicks

À peine défigurée

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Adieu tristesse
Bonjour tristesse
Tu es inscrite dans les lignes du plafond
Tu es inscrite dans les yeux que j'aime
Tu n'es pas tout à fait la misère
Car les lèvres les plus pauvres te dénoncent
Par un sourire
Bonjour tristesse
Amour des corps aimables
Puissance de l'amour
Dont l'amabilité surgit
Comme un monstre sans corps
Tête désappointée
Tristesse beau visage

Confirmed with Paul Éluard, Paul ÉluardTournai, Belgium: La Renaissance du livre, 2003, Page 33.

Text Authorship:

by Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (1895 - 1952), as Paul Éluard, "À peine défigurée", appears in La vie immédiate [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), "À peine défigurée", FP. 81 no. 2 [ chorus ], from Sept chansons, no. 2 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Barely Disfigured", 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: 2005-01-12
Line count: 14
Word count: 61

Barely Disfigured

Language: English after the French (Français)

Farewell sadness
Hello sadness
You are inscribed in the lines of the ceiling
You are inscribed in the eyes that I love
You are not entirely misery
For the poorest lips denounce you 
By a smile
Hello sadness
Love of kind bodies
Power of love
Whose kindness rises up 
Like a bodiless monster
Displaced head
Sadness lovely face

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, "À peine défigurée", appears in La vie immédiate
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-12-16
Line count: 14
Word count: 58