Rising up from its bulge and stem | Rising up from its bulge and stem

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by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 - 1898)

Translation © by Peter Low

Surgi de la croupe et du bond

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CAT ENG

Surgi de la croupe et du bond
D'une verrerie éphémère
Sans fleurir la veillée amère
Le col ignoré s'interrompt.

Je crois bien que deux bouches n'ont
Bu, ni son amant ni ma mère,
Jamais à la même chimère,
Moi, sylphe de ce froid plafond!

Le pur vase d'aucun breuvage
Que l'inexhaustible veuvage
Agonise mais ne consent,

Naïf baiser des plus funèbres!
À rien expirer annonçant
Une rose dans les ténèbres.

Text Authorship:

by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 - 1898), "Surgi de la croupe et du bond", appears in Poésies, in Plusieurs sonnets, first published 1887 [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 Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937), "Surgi de la croupe et du bond", M. 64 no. 3 (1913), published 1914 [ voice, 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, 2 violins, viola, cello, piano ], from Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, no. 3, Paris, Durand [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "Sorgit de la gropa i del saltant", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Peter Low) , "Rising up from its bulge and stem", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 70

Rising up from its bulge and stem

Language: English after the French (Français)

Rising up from its bulge and stem
of fragile glassware
- with no flowers to crown its bitter vigil -
the vase's neglected neck stops short.

I do believe the mouths
of my mother and her lover
never drank from the same love-cup
(I, sylph of this cold ceiling).

The vase untouched by any drink
except eternal widowhood
is dying yet never consents

-  oh naïve funereal kiss! -
to breathe out anything that might herald
a rose in the darkness.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2012 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842 - 1898), "Surgi de la croupe et du bond", appears in Poésies, in Plusieurs sonnets, first published 1887
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2012-03-29
Line count: 14
Word count: 77