Regret | When I see the summer sky, mild and stilled

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by Paul Bourget (1852 - 1935)

Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

Devant le ciel d'été, tiède et calmé

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG GER

Devant le ciel d'été, tiède et calmé,
Je me souviens de toi comme d'un songe,
Et mon regret fidèle aime et prolonge
  Les heures où j'étais aimé.

Les astres brilleront dans la nuit noire ;
Le soleil brillera dans le jour clair,
Quelque chose de toi flotte dans l'air,
  Qui me pénètre la mémoire.

Quelque chose de toi qui fut à moi :
Car j'ai possédé tout de ta pensée,
Et mon âme, trahie et délaissée,
  Est encor tout entière à toi.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Paul Bourget (1852 - 1935), "Regret", appears in Les Aveux, in Amour, no. 28 [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):

by Claude Achille Debussy (1862 - 1918), "Regret", subtitle: "Devant le ciel", L. 59/(55) (1884) [ voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
by Ernest Moret (1871 - 1949), "Devant le ciel d'Été", published 1899 [ medium voice and piano ], Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel [sung text not yet checked]
by Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846 - 1916), "Regret", 1901 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Bertram Kottmann) , "Regret", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Trauer angesichts des Sommerhimmels", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: John Versmoren

This text was added to the website: 2004-07-05
Line count: 12
Word count: 80

Regret

Language: English after the French (Français)

When I see the summer sky, mild and stilled,
you come into my mind, as if you were a dream,
and my true ache for you loves and draws out
the hours when I was dearly loved.

The stars will shine in deepest night;
the sun will shine in the clear day,
a part of you floats in the air
and penetrates my memory.

Something of you that once was mine:
since I possessèd all your thoughts,
It is my soul, betrayed, forlorn,
that still belongs to you, just you.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2011 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.
Bertram Kottmann. Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de
If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Paul Bourget (1852 - 1935), "Regret", appears in Les Aveux, in Amour, no. 28
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2011-03-10
Line count: 12
Word count: 90