by
Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)
Si mille oeillets, si mille liz...
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
Si mille oeillets, si mille liz j'embrasse,
Entortillant mes bras tout à l'entour,
Plus fort qu'un cep, qui d'un amoureux tour
La branche aimée, en mille plis enlasse :
Si le soucy ne jaunist plus ma face,
Si le plaisir fait en moy son le jour,
Si j'aime mieux les Ombres que le jour,
Songe divin, ce bien vient de ta grâce.
Suyvant ton vol je volerois aux cieux :
Mais son portrait qui me trompe les yeux,
Fraude tousjours ma joye entre-rompue.
Puis tu me fuis au milieu de mon bien,
Comme un éclair qui se finist en rien,
Ou comme au vent s'évanouyt la nuë.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotes
Leguerney uses modernized spelling, for example:
liz -> lis
soucy -> souci
jaunist -> jaunit
moy -> moi
tousjours -> toujours
joye -> joie
entre-rompue -> interrompue
finist -> finit
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by André Jolivet (1905 - 1974), "Sonnet de Ronsard", 1929, published 1994 [vocal trio (or vocal quartet) for female voices a cappella], Éd. Gérard Billaudot [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Jacques Leguerney (1906 - 1997), "Si mille œillets", 1943, published 1944 [soprano or tenor and piano], from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Vol. I, no. 6, Paris, Salabert [ sung text checked 1 time]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in French (Français), [adaptation] ; composed by Florent Schmitt.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (David Wyatt) , "If a thousand pinks", copyright © 2012, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [
Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2011-06-01
Line count: 14
Word count: 107
If a thousand pinks
Language: English  after the French (Français)
If I embrace a thousand pinks or a thousand lilies,
Twisting them all around my arms
Tighter than a vine which in amorous style
Entwines its beloved branch in a thousand curves;
If care no longer jaundices my face,
If pleasure chooses to stay with me,
If I prefer the shadows to the day,
My divine dream, this good comes from your favour.
Following your flight I could fly to the heavens;
But her image which fools my eyes
Always deceives my exhausted joy;
And then you flee from me in the midst of my happiness,
Like a flash of lightning which ends in nothing,
Or like a cloud which disappears in the breeze.
View text with all available footnotes
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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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2012-07-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 114