Love and Mars are nearly alike | Love and Mars are nearly alike

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by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585)

Translation © by David Wyatt

Amour et Mars sont presque d'une sorte

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: CHI ENG

Amour et Mars sont presque d'une sorte : 
L'un en plein jour, l'autre combat de nuit ;
L'un aux rivaux, l'autre aux gendarmes nuit ; 
L'un rompt un huys, l'autre rompt une porte ;

L'un finement trompe une ville forte, 
L'autre coiment une maison seduit ; 
L'un le butin, l'autre le gain poursuit ; 
L'un deshonneur, l'autre dommage apporte ; 

L'un couche à terre, et l'autre gist souvent 
Devant un huys à la froideur du vent ; 
L'un boit mainte eau, l'autre boit mainte larme ; 

Mars va tout seul, les Amours vont tous seuls.
Qui voudra donc ne languir paresseux
Soit l'un ou l'autre, amoureux ou gendarme.

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Text Authorship:

by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title [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 Guillaume Boni (c1530 - c1594), "Amour & Mars", published 1608 [ vocal quartet ], from Sonnets de Pierre de Ronsard mis en musique à 4 parties, I, no. 32, Paris, Pierre Ballard [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , "爱情&战争", copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (David Wyatt) , "Love and Mars are nearly alike", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: David Wyatt

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 99

Love and Mars are nearly alike

Language: English after the French (Français)

Love and Mars are nearly alike :
One fights his battles by day, the other at night ;
One harms the enemy, the other his own soldiers ;
One breaks down the door, the other the gate ;

One shrewdly deceives a well-fortified town,
The other quietly seduces a home ;
One seeks booty, the other profit ;
One brings dishonour, the other injury ;

One sleeps on the ground, the other often lodges
In front of a door in the cold wind ;
One drinks plenty of water, the other plenty of tears ;

Mars goes alone, Love goes alone.
Let he who prefers not to lie around lazily
Be one or the other, lover or soldier.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2015 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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Pierre de Ronsard (1524 - 1585), no title
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2015-02-26
Line count: 14
Word count: 109