Nous sommes les Ingénues Aux bandeaux plats, à l'œil bleu, Qui vivons, presque inconnues, Dans les romans qu'on lit peu. Nous allons entrelacées, Et le jour n'est pas plus pur Que le fond de nos pensées, Et nos rêves sont d'azur ; Et nous courons par les [prées]1, Et rions et babillons Des aubes jusqu'aux vesprées, Et chassons aux papillons ; Et des chapeaux de bergères Défendent notre fraîcheur, Et nos robes — si légères — Sont d'une extrême blancheur ; Les Richelieux, les Caussades Et les chevaliers Faublas Nous prodiguent les œillades, Les saluts et les « hélas ! » Mais en vain, et leurs mimiques Se viennent casser le nez Devant les plis ironiques De nos jupons détournées ; Et notre candeur se raille Des imaginations De ces [raseurs]1 de muraille, Bien que parfois nous sentions Battre nos cœurs sous nos mantes À des pensers clandestins. En nous sachant les amantes Futures des libertins.
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Paul Verlaine, Poëmes saturniens, Paris: Alphonse Lemerre, 1866, pages 69-71.
1 Koechlin, Loeffler: "près"; some editions: "prés"1 Koechlin: "rôdeurs"
Authorship:
- by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "La chanson des Ingénues", appears in Poèmes saturniens, in 4. Caprices, no. 3, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1866 [author's text checked 2 times 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 Pierre-Louis Darricau , "Chanson des ingénues", [1937] [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Koechlin (1867 - 1950), "La chanson des Ingénues", op. 22 (Quatre mélodies) no. 1 (1901) [ voice and piano or unison chorus ], Paris, L. Philippo [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Charles Martin Tornov Loeffler (1861 - 1935), "La chanson des Ingénues" [ voice, viola, and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Raymond Loucheur (1899 - 1979), "La chanson des Ingénues", [1936] [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jean-Louis Petit (b. 1937), "La chanson des ingénues", 1997 [ high voice and piano ], from Livre de poésies, no. 6 [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Richard von Schaukal (1874 - 1942) , "Das Lied der völlig Arglosen" ; composed by Artur Immisch, Georg Trexler.
Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Peter Low) , copyright © 2019, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Bergen Weeks Applegate) , "Song of the Ingénues", appears in Poems Saturnine, in 4. Caprices, no. 3
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 32
Word count: 156
We are the Ingénues With braided hair and eyes of blue Who live in old romances Unread save by the few. And arm in arm we go, For the day is not more bright Than the crystal of our thoughts, And our dreams are of the light. We run in the meadows Where our laughter never dies, From dawn until the vespers We chase the butterflies. And our shepherds' bonnets Keep us fresh and pale, And our dresses white Are so extremely frail. The Caussades and the Richelieux, And the Knights Faublas all pass, But they only waste their ogling, Their salutes and sighs "alas!" For in vain these foolish mimics Can only break the nose Against the folds ironic Of our skirts, so like the snows. And thus our lofty station Disturbs these gallants all — These warm imaginations, And leapers of the wall. Howe'er, with hearts fast beating, Clandestine thoughts between, We sigh to know the lovers Future — and libertine.
Confirmed with Bergen Applegate, Paul Verlaine: His Absinthe-Tinted Song, Chicago, Ralph Fletcher Seymour, The Alderbrink Press, 1916, pages 60-61.
Authorship:
- by Bergen Weeks Applegate (b. 1865), "Song of the Ingénues", appears in Poems Saturnine, in 4. Caprices, no. 3 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Paul Verlaine (1844 - 1896), "La chanson des Ingénues", appears in Poèmes saturniens, in 4. Caprices, no. 3, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1866
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2022-03-12
Line count: 32
Word count: 163