« D'où vous vient, disiez-vous, cette tristesse étrange, Montant comme la mer sur le roc noir et nu ? » — Quand notre cœur a fait une fois sa vendange, Vivre est un mal. C'est un secret de tous connu, Une douleur très-simple et non mystérieuse, Et, comme votre joie, éclatante pour tous. Cessez donc de chercher, ô belle curieuse ! Et, bien que votre voix soit douce, taisez-vous ! Taisez-vous, ignorante ! âme toujours ravie ! Bouche au rire enfantin ! Plus encor que la Vie, La Mort nous tient souvent par des liens subtils. Laissez, laissez mon cœur s'enivrer d'un mensonge, Plonger dans vos beaux yeux comme dans un beau songe, Et sommeiller longtemps à l'ombre de vos cils !
Confirmed with Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs de mal, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1861, in Spleen et Idéal, pages 92-93. Note: this appears in the 1861 edition of Les Fleurs du mal as number 40 but as number 41 in subsequent editions.
Text Authorship:
- by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Semper eadem", written 1860, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 40, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1861 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Jean-Robert Blanc (b. 1907), "Semper eadem", published 1935 [ high voice and piano ], from Six mélodies pour chant et piano, no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Raymond Charpentier (1880 - 1960), "Semper eadem", 1910, published 1925 [ high voice, string quartet, piano ], from Deux poèmes de Baudelaire, no. 1, Paris, Éditions Maurice Senart [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alexander Liebermann (b. 1989), "Semper eadem", 2017 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Vrchlický) , "Semper eadem"
- CZE Czech (Čeština) (Jaroslav Haasz) , "Semper eadem", Prague, J. Otto, first published 1919
- ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "Semper Eadem", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909
- ENG English (John Collings Squire, Sir) , "Semper eadem", first published 1909
- ROM Romanian (Română) (Alexandru I. Philippide) , "Semper eadem"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2014-08-19
Line count: 14
Word count: 116
"From whence it comes, you ask, this gloom acute, Like waves that o'er the rocky headland fall?" — When once our hearts have gathered in their fruit, To live is a curse! a secret known to all, A grief, quite simple, nought mysterious, And like your joy — for all, both loud and shrill, Nay cease to clammour, be not e'er so curious! And yet although your voice is sweet, be still! Be still, O soul, with rapture ever rife! O mouth, with the childish smile! Far more than Life, The subtle bonds of Death around us twine. Let — let my heart, the wine of falsehood drink, And dream-like, deep within your fair eyes sink, And in the shade of thy lashes long recline!
Confirmed with Cyril Scott, The Flowers of Evil [by Charles Baudelaire; translated into English verse by Cyril Scott], London: Elkin Mathews, 1909, page 28.
Text Authorship:
- by Cyril Meir Scott (1879 - 1970), "Semper Eadem", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909 [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "Semper eadem", written 1860, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 1. Spleen et Idéal, no. 40, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1861
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-07-10
Line count: 14
Word count: 125