La procession
Language: French (Français)
Our translations: ENG ENG
Dieu s'avance à travers les champs!
Par les landes, les prés, les verts taillis de hêtres.
Il vient, suivi du peuple et porté par les prêtres:
Aux cantiques de l'homme, oiseaux, mêlez vos chants!
On s'arrête. La foule autour d'un chêne antique
S'incline, en adorant, sous l'ostensoir mystique:
Soleil! darde sur lui tes longs rayons couchants!
Aux cantiques de l'homme, oiseaux, mêlez vos chants!
Vous, fleurs, avec l'encens exhalez votre arôme!
Ô fête! tout reluit, tout prie et tout embaume!
Dieu s'avance à travers les champs.
Text 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):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "The procession", copyright © 2016, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Amy Pfrimmer) , "The procession", copyright © 2019, (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: 11
Word count: 86
The procession
Language: English after the French (Français)
God advances through the fields!
Across the moors, the meadows, the green stand of beech trees.
He comes, followed by the people and worn by the priests:
Human hymns, birds, blend your songs!
They stop. The crowd, around an ancient oak,
Bows, in worship, under the mystical monstrance:
Sun! Cast on it your long rays of sunset!
Human hymns, birds, blend your songs!
You, flowers, exhale your frangrance into the incense!
Oh, holy feast! Everything shines, everything prays, and everything is censed!
God advances through the fields.
Translator's notes:
Line 3: "worn" - could also be "carried"
Line 6: "Monstrance" - A (sometimes gilded) Roman Catholic vessel which showcases a sacred object such as the consecrecated host during Communion, or the relic of a saint. Many monstrances are shaped like crosses or cabinets, and the poem compares the oak tree to a monstrance.
Line 10 : "censed" - Incense is a sign of prayer rising up to heaven; many Christian religions "cense" the altar at important points during religious services.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2016 by Laura Prichard, (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: 2016-05-17
Line count: 11
Word count: 87