Always | You ask me to be quiet

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by Charles Jean Grandmougin (1850 - 1930)

Translation © by Emily Ezust

Toujours

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT ENG ENG GER SPA

Vous me demandez de me taire,
De fuir loin de vous pour jamais,
Et de m'en aller, solitaire,
Sans me rappeler qui j'aimais!

Demandez plutôt aux étoiles
De tomber dans l'immensité,
À la nuit de perdre ses voiles,
Au jour de perdre sa clarté,

Demandez à la mer immense
De dessécher ses vastes flots,
Et, quand les vents sont en démence,
D'apaiser ses sombres sanglots!

Mais n'espérez pas que mon âme
S'arrache à ses âpres douleurs
Et se dépouille de sa flamme
Comme le printemps de ses fleurs!

Text Authorship:

by Charles Jean Grandmougin (1850 - 1930), written 1874 [author's text not yet checked 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 Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), "Toujours", op. 21 no. 2 (1878), published 1880, first performed 1881 [ high voice and piano ], from Poëme d'un jour, no. 2, Éd. Durand & Fils [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Sempre", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "Always", copyright ©
ENG English (Michael P Rosewall) , "Always", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Nele Gramß) , "Ewig", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Alberto Bonati) , "Siempre", copyright © 2007, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 88

Always

Language: English after the French (Français)

 You ask me to be quiet,
 to flee from you forever to a distant place,
 and to depart alone
 without thinking of the one whom I love!
 
 You might more easily ask the stars
 to fall from the sky,
 or the night to lift its veils,
 or the day to rid itself of its brightness!
 
 Ask the immense ocean
 to dry up its vast waters,
 and, when the winds are raging dementedly,
 ask them to calm their dismal sobbing!
 
 But do not hope that my soul
 can uproot its sorrow
 and douse its flame
 as the spring-time can shed its flowers!

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust
Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
from the LiederNet Archive
For any other purpose, please write to the e-mail address below to request permission and discuss possible fees.
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Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Charles Jean Grandmougin (1850 - 1930), written 1874
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 102