by
Charles Joliet (1832 - 1910)
Au fond des amères douleurs
Language: French (Français)
Au fond des amères douleurs
Il est parfois un charme étrange :
On dirait qu'à travers nos pleurs
Brille un pâle sourire d'ange.
Au fond de nos plus doux bonheurs
On sent comme un acre mélange ;
Il est des poisons dans les fleurs :
Ainsi de l'homme Dieu se venge.
Ne pouvant jouir ni souffrir,
Ne sachant vivre ni mourir,
L'âme, sans force et sans croyance,
Ne garde même du passé
Qu'un vain souvenir — effacé
Par les ailes de l'Espérance.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Charles Joliet, Les Athéniennes, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1866, Page 13.
Text Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Researcher for this page: Grant Hicks
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2025-11-17
Line count: 14
Word count: 79
In the depths of bitter sorrows
Language: English after the French (Français)
In the depths of bitter sorrows
There is sometimes a strange charm:
You might say that through our tears
Shines an angel's pallid smile.
In the depths of our sweetest joys
We may sense a trace of bitterness;
There are poisons in flowers:
Thus does God take vengeance on men.
Not able to enjoy nor to suffer,
Not knowing how to live nor to die,
The soul, lacking strength and faith,
Retains nothing of the past
But a vain memory — swept away
By the wings of Hope.
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of titles:
"Espérance" = "Hope"
"Speranza" = "Hope"
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 Charles Joliet (1832 - 1910), "Speranza"
This text was added to the website: 2025-11-19
Line count: 14
Word count: 88
