May your clear eyes, your summer eyes

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by Émile Verhaeren (1855 - 1916)

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Que tes yeux clairs, tes yeux d'été

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT ENG

Que tes yeux clairs, tes yeux d'été,
Me soient, sur terre,
Les images de la bonté.

Laissons nos âmes embrasées
Revêtir d'or chaque flamme de nos pensées.

Que mes deux mains contre ton coeur
Te soient, sur terre,
Les emblèmes de la douceur.

Vivons pareils à deux prières éperdues
L'une vers l'autre, à toute heure, tendues.

Que nos baisers sur nos bouches ravies
Nous soient sur terre
Les symboles de notre vie.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Émile Verhaeren (1855 - 1916), no title, written 1896, appears in Les heures claires, no. 19, Bruxelles, Éd. Edmond Deman, first published 1896 [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 Nadia Boulanger (1887 - 1979) and by Stéphane Raoul Pugno (1852 - 1914), "Que tes yeux clairs, tes yeux d'été", 1909, published 1910 [ high voice and piano ], from Les heures claires, no. 4, Paris, Éd. "Au Ménestrel" Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
by Philippe Gaubert (1879 - 1941), "Que tes yeux clairs", 1913, published 1913 [ high voice and piano ], from Les heures d'après-midi, no. 1, Paris, Éd. "Au Ménestrel" Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
by Alice-Marie-Marguerite Sauvrezis (1866 - 1946), "Que tes yeux clairs", published 1911 [ voice and piano ], from Heures claires, no. 3, Paris : M. Sénart, B. Roudanez et Cie. [sung text not yet checked]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2022, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-11-01
Line count: 13
Word count: 72

May your clear eyes, your summer eyes

Language: English after the French (Français)

May your clear eyes, your summer eyes,
Be for me on earth 
The images of goodness.

Let our blazing souls
Clothe with gold each flame of our thoughts.

May my two hands against your heart 
Be for you on earth 
The emblems of sweetness.

Let us live like two impassioned prayers 
Offered to each other at every hour.

May our kisses on our enraptured lips
Be for us on earth 
The symbols of our life.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Que tes yeux clairs" = "May your clear eyes"
"Que tes yeux clairs, tes yeux d'été" = "May your clear eyes, your summer eyes"

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 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 Émile Verhaeren (1855 - 1916), no title, written 1896, appears in Les heures claires, no. 19, Bruxelles, Éd. Edmond Deman, first published 1896
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2026-02-16
Line count: 13
Word count: 75