The chestnut trees | Alas! The chestnut trees that border the alleys

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by Paul Collin (1845 - 1915)

Translation © by Jean-Pierre Granger

Les marroniers

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Hélas ! les marronniers qui bordent les allées
Dans leur ombre naguère abritaient bien des nids !
Leurs fronts sont déjà plus qu'à demi dégarnis,
Et les bandes d'oiseaux frileux sont envolées !

Adieu le doux concert des ramages finis !
Le vent murmure seul ses plaintes désolées...
Et nous verrons tomber, aux premières gelées,
Le peu qui reste encor des feuillages jaunis.

Sur les illusions de ma chère folie
Passe le doute amer et la mélancolie ;
Et mon cœur a senti l'hiver tomber en lui !

Mes beaux rêves d'ardeur naïve et de jeunesse...
Plus vite que la feuille et que l'oiseau m'ont fui ;
Hélas ! Et sans espoir que le printemps renaisse !

Text Authorship:

by Paul Collin (1845 - 1915) [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 Jules Massenet (1842 - 1912), "Les marroniers", published 1877 [voice and piano], from Poème d'Octobre, no. 3, Paris: G. Hartmann [
text verified 1 time
]

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

ENG English (Jean-Pierre Granger) , title 1: "The chestnut trees", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Jean-Pierre Granger

This text was added to the website: 2010-10-21
Line count: 14
Word count: 108

The chestnut trees

Language: English after the French (Français)

Alas! The chestnut trees that border the alleys
Not so long ago were shading many nests !
Their heads are already more than half undressed,
And packs of birds have flown away !

Farewell to the sweet concert of birds' songs !
The wind alone whispers its forlorn complaints...
And we shall see, at the first frost, fall 
The little that remains from the yellowish leaves.

Over the illusions of my dear insanity
Passes the bitter doubt and the melancholy ;
And my heart has felt the winter come down !

My great dreams of naïve passion and youth
Have fled faster than leaf and bird ;
Alas! And without hope, may the spring return!

The translator has released this translation into the public domain.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2010 by Jean-Pierre Granger.
This author's work falls under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license.

Jean-Pierre Granger. We have no current contact information for the copyright-holder.
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Paul Collin (1845 - 1915)
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2010-10-21
Line count: 14
Word count: 109