by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
Translation © by David Wyatt

Je ne suis seulement amoureux de Marie 
Language: French (Français) 
Our translations:  ENG
Je ne suis seulement amoureux de Marie,
Anne me tient aussi dans les liens d'Amour,
Ore l'une me plaît, ore l'autre à son tour :
Ainsi Tibulle aimait Némésis, et Délie.

[On me dira tantôt]1 que c'est une folie
D'en aimer, inconstant, deux ou trois en un jour,
Voire, et qu'il faudrait bien un homme de séjour,
Pour, gaillard, satisfaire à une seule amie.

Je réponds à cela, que je suis amoureux,
Et non pas jouissant de ce bien doucereux,
Que tout amant souhaite avoir à sa commande.

Quant à moi, seulement je leur baise la main,
[Les yeux, le front]2, le col, les lèvres et le sein,
Et rien que ces biens-là d'elles je ne demande.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   A. Bertrand 

View original text (without footnotes)
1 Bertrand: "Un loyal me dira"
2 Bertrand: "Le front, les yeux"

Text Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

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

  • ENG English (David Wyatt) , "I'm not just in love with Marie", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-03-23
Line count: 14
Word count: 116

I'm not just in love with Marie
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
I'm not just in love with Marie
Anne too holds me in the bonds of love
Now one pleases me, then the other in her turn
Thus did Tibullus love Nemesis and Delia2.

[Now you]1 will tell me this is folly
To love two or three of them a day, inconstantly,
Indeed it needs a man with plenty of leisure time
To stay lively and satisfy just one sweetheart.

I reply to that, that I am in love
And, not enjoying that smooth tongue
Which all lovers wish to have at their command,

As for me I just kiss their hand
Their eyes, brow, neck, lips and breast
And ask for nothing but those treats from them.

View original text (without footnotes)
Translator's notes:
Stanza 1, line 2: Anne was apparently Marie's sister
Stanza 1, line 4: Tibullus, a Latin poet of Virgil's time; his first book is for Delia, his second for Nemesis. His fellow-poet Ovid wrote (in Amores): "Sic Nemesis longum, sic Delia, nomen habebunt, altera cura recens, altera primus amor" -- 'thus Nemesis and Delia will long be famous, the latter his recent love, the former his first'

1 Bertrand: "A loyal friend"

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2012 by David Wyatt, (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.
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This text was added to the website: 2012-06-06
Line count: 14
Word count: 117