Les papillons
French source:
Théophile Gautier
Volent par essaims sur la mer;
Beaux papillons blancs, quand pourrai-je
Prendre le bleu chemin de l’air?
Savez-vous, ô belle des belles,
Ma bayadère aux yeux de jais,
S’ils me pouvaient prêter leurs ailes,
Dites, savez-vous où j’irais?
Sans prendre un seul baiser aux roses
À travers vallons et forêts,
J’irais à vos lèvres mi-closes,
Fleur de mon âme, et j’y mourrais.
Butterflies
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
swarm over the sea;
beautiful white butterflies, when might I
take to the azure path of the air?
Do you know, O beauty of beauties,
my jet-eyed bayadère—
were they to lend me their wings,
do you know where I would go?
Without kissing a single rose,
across valleys and forests
I’d fly to your half-closed lips,
flower of my soul, and there would die.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of A French Song Companion (Oxford, 2000)
Les papillons
French source:
Théophile Gautier
Butterflies
English source:
Richard Stokes
Les papillons couleur de neige
Snow-coloured butterflies
Volent par essaims sur la mer;
swarm over the sea;
Beaux papillons blancs, quand pourrai-je
beautiful white butterflies, when might I
Prendre le bleu chemin de l’air?
take to the azure path of the air?
Savez-vous, ô belle des belles,
Do you know, O beauty of beauties,
Ma bayadère aux yeux de jais,
my jet-eyed bayadère—
S’ils me pouvaient prêter leurs ailes,
were they to lend me their wings,
Dites, savez-vous où j’irais?
do you know where I would go?
Sans prendre un seul baiser aux roses
Without kissing a single rose,
À travers vallons et forêts,
across valleys and forests
J’irais à vos lèvres mi-closes,
I’d fly to your half-closed lips,
Fleur de mon âme, et j’y mourrais.
flower of my soul, and there would die.
Composer
Claude Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Please click…
Poet
Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While Gautier was an ardent defender of Romanticism, his work is difficult to classify and remains a point of reference for many…