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by Pierre Jean de Béranger (1780 - 1857)
Translation by Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe KG, PC, The Lord Houghton (1858 - 1945)

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? chide my lack of tenderness?
  You're still in May, you must remember;
My waning youth has stood the stress,
  Now forty years, of chill December.
A little seamstress once, 'tis true,
  My every pulse aflame could set,
Ah! if I only could love you,
  As years ago I loved Rosette!

You're whirled along, divinely dressed,
  A type of brilliant fascination: 
Rose, radiant in her Sunday best,
  Tripped by, all joy and animation; 
To tease poor me, her glances threw
  A challenge round for all she met! 
Ah! if I only could love you
  As years ago I loved Rosette!

The mirrors on your silken wall
  Smile back a hundred happy faces; 
Rose had one glass, and that was all,
  -- I thought she'd stolen it from the Graces! --
Never a blind her window knew,
  The sunrise gilt her coverlet: 
Ah! if I only could love you,
  As years ago I loved Rosette!

The summer lightning of your wit
  Would fire the soul of many a poet; 
Poor Rose could hardly read a bit!
  -- I'm not ashamed that you should know it: 
Though thoughts might stumble, words be few,
  Love improvised an alphabet: 
Ah! if I only could love you,
  As years ago I loved Rosette!

She had not half your winning charm;
  Indeed, I think her heart was colder:
Her eyes ne'er melted, sweet and calm,
  Before the tale her loved one told her.
One grace was hers, one ever new,
  -- That youth of mine I now regret! 
Ah! if I only could love you,
  As years ago I loved Rosette!

Text Authorship:

  • by Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe KG, PC, The Lord Houghton (1858 - 1945), "Rosette", appears in Gleanings from Béranger, first published 1889 [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: 261

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