by
Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963)
Souvenirs d'enfance
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
Pendant la nuit, une rose
Avance sous feux éteints.
S'il arrivait quelque chose,
Elle attendra le matin.
Les noix, ta mère les dore,
Pour ton arbre de Noël.
Souliers au bord de l'aurore...
Ils apprivoisent le ciel.
Jadis, l'enfance chérie,
Voyageait, allumant des
Liverpool de féerie,
Splendides à regarder.
Une moustiquaire en tulle
Comme la neige on y meurt,
Surtout, si l'étoile brûle
Les ailes du ramoneur.
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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):
- by Arthur Honegger (1892 - 1955), "Souvenirs d'enfance", H. 51 no. 3 (1920), published 1924, from Six Poésies de Jean Cocteau, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Jean Wiéner (1896 - 1982), "Souvenirs d'enfance", 1921, published 1924 [ voice and piano ], from Deux Poèmes de Jean Cocteau, no. 2, Éd. Max Eschig [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Victoria de Menil) , "Childhood memories", copyright ©, (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: 16
Word count: 67
Childhood memories
Language: English  after the French (Français)
In the night a rose
moves forward, all the lights off,
If something happened
It would wait until morning
Your mother paints the nuts gold
For your Christmas tree
Shoes on the edge of dawn
They tame the sky
Before, the treasured childhood
Travelled lighting up
Liverpools of fairies
Splendid to look at
A mosquito net
Like snow, you die there,
Especially if the star burns
The wings of the chimney sweep.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © by Victoria de Menil, (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:
- a text in French (Français) by Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963), "Souvenirs d'enfance", written 1920, appears in Poésies 1917-1920, Paris, Éd. La Sirène, first published 1920
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 73