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by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896)

Ce soir je m'étais penché sur ton...
Language: French (Français) 
Chosen for Diff
Ce soir je m'étais penché sur ton sommeil.
Tout ton corps dormait chaste sur l'humble lit,
Et j'ai vu, comme un qui s'applique et qui lit,
Ah ! j'ai vu que tout est vain sous le soleil !

Qu'on vive, ô quelle délicate merveille,
Tant notre appareil est une fleur qui plie !
O pensée aboutissant à la folie !
Va, pauvre, dors ! moi, l'effroi pour toi m'éveille.

Ah ! misère de t'aimer, mon frêle amour
Qui vas respirant comme on respire un jour !
Ô regard fermé que la mort fera tel !

Ô bouche qui ris en songe sur ma bouche,
En attendant l'autre rire plus farouche !
Vite, éveille-toi. Dis, l'âme est immortelle ?

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "Vers pour être calomnié", appears in Jadis et naguère, in Jadis, in Sonnets et autres vers, no. 17 [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 Paul Desrais , "Pour être calomnié", published 1905 [ voice and piano ], Paris, Du Wast [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Finnish (Suomi), a translation by Yrjö Vilhelm Kaijärvi (1896 - 1971) ; composed by Pauliina Isomäki.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2012-02-06
Line count: 14
Word count: 108

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