by
Walter De la Mare (1873 - 1956)
Vigil
Language: English
Available translation(s): FRE GER
Dark is the night,
The fire burns faint and low,
Hours -- days -- years,
Into grey ashes go;
I strive to read,
But sombre is the glow.
Thumbed are the pages,
And the print is small;
Mocking the winds
That from the darkness call;
Feeble the fire that lends
Its light withal.
O ghost, draw nearer;
Let thy shadowy hair
Blot out the pages
That we cannot share;
Be ours the one last leaf
By Fate left bare!
Let's Finis scrawl,
And then Life's book put by;
Turn each to each
In all simplicity:
Ere the last flame is gone
To warm us by.
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Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Veille", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Wache", copyright © 2013, (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: 103
Veille
Language: French (Français)  after the English
Sombre est la nuit,
Le feu brûle faiblement, doucement,
Après des heures, des jours, des années,
Se transforme en cendres grises ;
Je m'efforce de lire,
Mais la lueur est sombre.
Les pages sont écornées
Et c'est écrit petit ;
Les vents moqueurs
Appellent depuis l'obscurité ;
Le feu faible qui accorde
En outre sa lumière.
Ô esprit, viens plus près ;
Que ta chevelure vague
Masque les pages
Que nous ne pouvons pas partager ;
Que notre dernière page soit
Laissée vide par le destin !
Gribouillons Fin,
Et puis mettons de côté le livre de la vie ;
Tournons-nous l'un vers l'autre
En toute simplicité :
Avant que ne parte la dernière flamme
Pour nous réchauffer.
Authorship:
- Translation from English to French (Français) copyright © 2011 by Guy Laffaille, (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.
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Based on:
This text was added to the website: 2011-06-29
Line count: 24
Word count: 118