Song | We left one morning

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by Maurice Bouchor (1855 - 1929)

Translation © by Faith J. Cormier

Chanson

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Nous sommes partis un matin ;
La menthe, l'iris et le thym
Mêlaient leurs senteurs pénétrantes ;
Nous allions vers les pays bleus
Pour cueillir des lys fabuleux
Et de mystiques amarantes.

Fleurs coquettes et fleurs des blés
Paraient ses cheveux déroulés ;
Mais on cueille sur les chemins
Plus de baisers que de jasmins.

Nous voulions écouter aussi
Rossignols, merles sans souci,
Toutes les voix de la ramée ;
Même, pour les entendre mieux,
Dans un fourré silencieux
J'avais conduit ma bien-aimée.

Nous avons écouté, rêvé ;
Mais sous bois nous avons trouvé
Plus de chansons que de pinsons,
Plus de baisers que de chansons.

Text Authorship:

by Maurice Bouchor (1855 - 1929), "Chanson", appears in Les poëmes de l'amour et de la mer, in 1. La fleur des eaux, no. 28, first published 1876 [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 Charles Bordes (1863 - 1909), "Chanson", 1883, published 1921? [ medium voice and piano ], Éd. J. Hamelle [sung text not yet checked]
by Ernest Amédée Chausson (1855 - 1899), "Chanson", 1877, published 1878 [ high voice and piano ], from Deux Poèmes de Bouchor, no. 1, Éd. Durand-Schoenewerk [sung text checked 1 time]
by Georges Eugène Marty (1860 - 1908), "Chanson", published [1889] [ high voice and piano ], from 4 Mélodies, no. 4, Éd. Bruneau & Cie. [sung text not yet checked]

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

ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "Song", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 101

Song

Language: English after the French (Français)

We left one morning. 
Mint, iris and thyme 
mingled their keen odours. 
We were headed to the blue lands 
to gather fabled lilies 
and mystical amaranth.

Saucy flowers and blooms of the fields 
adorned her unbound hair; 
but on the road we gathered 
more kisses than jasmine flowers.

We also wanted to listen
to the nightingales, the carefree thrushes, 
all the voices from the branches. 
I even drew my beloved 
into a silent thicket 
in order to hear them better. 

We listened and dreamed, 
but under the trees we found 
more songs than finches, 
more kisses than songs.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2014 by Faith J. Cormier, (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 Maurice Bouchor (1855 - 1929), "Chanson", appears in Les poëmes de l'amour et de la mer, in 1. La fleur des eaux, no. 28, first published 1876
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2014-11-11
Line count: 20
Word count: 98