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by Pierre Jean de Béranger (1780 - 1857)
Translation by William Young (1809 - 1888)

Rosette
Language: French (Français) 
Sans respect pour votre printemps,
  Quoi ! vous me parlez de tendresse,
Quand sous le poids de quarante ans
  Je vois succomber ma jeunesse !
Je n'eus besoin pour m'enflammer 
  Jadis que d'une humble grisette. 
Ah ! que ne puis-je vous aimer
  Comme autrefois j'aimais Rosette !

Votre équipage, tous les jours,
  Vous montre en parure brillante. 
Rosette, sous de frais atours,
  Courait à pied, leste et riante. 
Partout ses yeux, pour m'alarmer,
  Provoquaient l'œillade indiscrète. 
Ah ! que ne puis-je vous aimer
  Comme autrefois j'aimais Rosette !

Dans le satin de ce boudoir,
  Vous souriez à mille glaces.
Rosette n'avait qu'un miroir;
  Je le croyais celui des Grâces.
Point de rideaux pour s'enfermer;
  L'aurore égayait sa couchette.
Ah ! que ne puis-je vous aimer
  Comme autrefois j'aimais Rosette !

Votre esprit, qui brille éclairé,
  Inspirerait plus d'une lyre. 
Sans honte je vous l'avouerai
  Rosette à peine savait lire. 
Ne pouvait-elle s'exprimer,
  L'amour lui servait d'interprète. 
Ah ! que ne puis-je vous aimer
  Comme autrefois j'aimais Rosette!

Elle avait moins d'attraits que vous;
 -- Même elle avait un cœur moins tendre. 
Oui, ses yeux se tournaient moins doux
  Vers l'amant, heureux de l'entendre. 
Mais elle avait, pour me charmer,
  Ma jeunesse que je regrette. 
Ah ! que ne puis-je vous aimer
  Comme autrefois j'aimais Rosette !

Text Authorship:

  • by Pierre Jean de Béranger (1780 - 1857), "Rosette" [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):

    [ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Emanuel von Geibel (1815 - 1884) , "Rosette", appears in Fünf Bücher französischer Lyrik vom Zeitalter der Revolution bis auf unsere Tage in Übersetzungen von Emanuel Geibel und Heinrich Leuthold, first published 1862 ENG ENG and by Heinrich Leuthold (1827 - 1879) , "Rosette", appears in Fünf Bücher französischer Lyrik vom Zeitalter der Revolution bis auf unsere Tage in Übersetzungen von Emanuel Geibel und Heinrich Leuthold, first published 1862 ENG ENG ; composed by Robert von Hornstein.
      • Go to the text.

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

  • ENG English (William Young) , "Rosette", appears in Béranger: two hundred of his lyrical poems done into English verse, no. 89, first published 1850
  • ENG English (Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe KG, PC, The Lord Houghton) , "Rosette", appears in Gleanings from Béranger, first published 1889


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-02-04
Line count: 40
Word count: 204

Rosette
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
What ! your own spring you never heed,
But talk of tenderness indeed,
To me, whose youth bowed down appears
Beneath the weight of forty years !
Once I but needed, for my part,
Some poor grisette to fire my heart : 
Ah ! wherefore can I not for you,
As for Rosette, feel love anew ?

Superbly clad, in carriage gay,
You are paraded day by day :
Rosette, in dresses fresh and neat,
Would laughing trip along the street;
Whilst, just to frighten me, her glances
To ogling seemed to make advances.
Ah ! wherefore can I not for you,
As for Rosette, feel love anew ?

In this boudoir, with satin decked,
Mirrors by scores your smiles reflect:
Rosette possessed one glass alone ;
I thought it was the Graces' own.
No curtains closed around her head ;
The sunrise cheered her little bed :
Ah ! wherefore can I not for you,
As for Rosette, feel love anew ?

Your sparkling wit might well inspire
With its bright flashes many a lyre:
I blush not to confess it true,
Rosette her letters scarcely knew ;
And when at loss her words to choose,
Love, as interpreter, would use.
Ah ! wherefore can I not for you,
As for Rosette, feel love anew ?

With yours compared, her charms were few;
Her very heart less tender too :
Nor looked she with so soft an eye
On happy lover listening by.
But still she charmed me; for, in sooth, 
Hers was my much-regretted youth !
Ah ! wherefore can I not for you,
As for Rosette, feel love anew ?

Text Authorship:

  • by William Young (1809 - 1888), "Rosette", appears in Béranger: two hundred of his lyrical poems done into English verse, no. 89, first published 1850 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Pierre Jean de Béranger (1780 - 1857), "Rosette"
    • Go to the text page.

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 text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2011-02-04
Line count: 40
Word count: 253

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