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Etouffez-moi sous des tas de murailles, Se criblant d'yeux pour m'observer ; De mon amour chantez les funérailles. Mon rêve est là pour vous braver. Les eaux du Nil, toutes pâles, s'écoulent, Sous les étoiles de la nuit. Des sphinx, aux bords, sur deux rangs se déroulent. Au milieu, notre barque fuit. Le bien-aimé, s'accoudant sur la proue, Laisse errer sur moi son œil doux ; Moi, renversant la tête, je secoue Mes cheveux d'or sur ses genoux. Et les grands sphinx, dans la plaine infinie, Nous regardant passer près d'eux, Confusément versent une harmonie Qui tombe en amour sur nous deux. Les eaux du Nil coulent, les roseaux tremblent ; Dans notre barque nous glissons. Les chants des sphinx, perdus dans l'ombre, semblent Des harpes prolongeant leurs sons. Et nous mêlons notre amour à l'eau pâle, Au firmament illimité... -- Rêve impuissant ! enfer d'un cœur qui râle, Seul, par les molles nuits d'été !
X. Leroux sets stanzas 2-4
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Les nuits persanes par Armand Renaud, Paris, Alphonese Lemerre, 1870, pages 82-83.
Authorship
- by Armand Renaud (1836 - 1895), "Sur le Nil", appears in Les nuits persanes, in 5. La solitaire, no. 5, Paris, Alphonese Lemerre, first published 1870 [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 Xavier Henri Napoleon Leroux (1863 - 1919), "Le Nil", published c1886, stanzas 2-4 [high voice and piano], from La Solitaire, mélodies Persanes de Armand Renaud, no. 1, Paris, Éd. G. Hartmann [ sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Garrett Medlock) , copyright © 2019, (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: 24
Word count: 155
[...] The waters of the Nile, all pale, flow Under the night stars. Sphinxes, on the banks, unfold in two rows. In the midst, our boat flees. [My] beloved, leaning his elbows on the prow, Lets his sweet eye roam over me; Tilting my head, I shake My golden hair on his knees. And the great sphinxes, in the the infinite plain, Watching us pass in front of them, Inaudibly shedding a harmony Which falls in love upon us both. [...] [...]
About the headline (FAQ)
Translations of title(s):
"Le Nil" = "The Nile"
"Sur le Nil" = "On the Nile"
Authorship
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2019 by Garrett Medlock, (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:
- a text in French (Français) by Armand Renaud (1836 - 1895), "Sur le Nil", appears in Les nuits persanes, in 5. La solitaire, no. 5, Paris, Alphonese Lemerre, first published 1870
This text was added to the website: 2019-05-02
Line count: 15
Word count: 82