Voici, toute en cendres, Sapho, Dont ce fut le moindre défaut D'aimer, Vénus, les coquillages Que vous entr'ouvrez sur les plages. Le feu qu'elle éteint dans la mer N'était pas la flamme des cierges ; Comme fleurs rougissent les vierges, Sapho rougit comme le fer. Ce feu dont ne reste que poudre, Tua jadis une cité. Mais soyons justes, car la foudre Y tomba d'un autre côté. Non. Sapho vous apprit à lire, Vierges, dans son propre roman ; Elle repose maintenant Entre les jambes de sa lyre. Sur ce beau corps mélodieux Elle repose chez les dieux : Sapho, déesse médiane Entre Cupidon et Diane.
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Text Authorship:
- by Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963), "Tombeau de Sapho", appears in Poésies 1917-1920, in Tombeaux, no. 1, first published 1920 [author's text not yet checked 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 Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley, Sir (1903 - 1989), "Tombeau de Sapho", 1926 [ soprano or tenor and piano ], from Tombeaux, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2013-02-10
Line count: 20
Word count: 103