Je suis le saint ...

from Illuminations ... Enfance (2016) by Thomas Oboe Lee

	/

Buy the Full Digital Album

lyrics

Je suis le saint, en prière sur la terrasse, comme les bêtes pacifiques paissent jusqu’à la mer de Palestine.

Je suis le savant au fauteuil sombre. Les branches et la pluie se jettent à la croisée de la bibliothèque.

Je suis le piéton de la grand’route par les bois nains; la rumeur des écluses couvre mes pas. Je vois longtemps la mélancolique lessive d’or du couchant.

Je serais bien l’enfant abandonné sur la jetée partie à la haute mer, le petit valet suivant l’allée dont le front touche le ciel.

Les sentiers sont âpres. Les monticules se couvrent de genêts. L’air est immobile. Que les oiseaux et les sources sont loin! Ce ne peut être que la fin du monde, en avançant.

[Trans.]

I’m the saint, praying on the terrace – as the peaceful beasts graze down to the sea of Palestine.

I’m the scholar in the dark armchair. Branches and rain fling themselves at the library casement.

I’m the traveller on the high road through the stunted woods: the roar of the sluices drowns out my steps. I watch for hours the melancholy golden wash of the sunset.

I might well be the child left on the jetty washed to the open sea, the little farm-boy following the lane whose crest touches the sky.

The paths are rough. The little hills are covered with broom. The air is motionless. How far away the birds and the fountains are! That can only be the world’s end ahead.

credits

from Illuminations ... Enfance (2016), released February 18, 2017

license

about

Thomas Oboe Lee Cambridge, Massachusetts

Thomas Oboe Lee was born in China in 1945. He lived in São Paulo, Brazil, for six years before coming to the United States in 1966. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh, he studied composition at the New England Conservatory and Harvard University. He has been a member of the music faculty at Boston College since 1990. ... more

thomasoboelee.com

contact / help

Contact Thomas Oboe Lee

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Thomas Oboe Lee, you may also like:

Strings on Land
by Ellen Tsai

This elegantly composed chamber album from Ellen Tsai has a playful feel, almost like the soundtrack to a storybook. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 23, 2022
go to album
Decir
by Francisco del Pino

Argentine composer and guitarist Francisco del Pino achieves a stunning art-song hybrid on the first album to be released under his own name. Bandcamp Album of the Day May 19, 2021
go to album
Silhouettes
by Justina Jaruseviciute

A stirring set of chamber music from this composer from Berlin, which seem to capture hope & sadness at once. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 5, 2021
go to album
Find Sound
by Shards

Rippling electronics bubble up under gorgeous choral vocals on an LP that feels blissful and transcendent. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 29, 2019
go to album
Black Mountain Songs
by Brooklyn Youth Chorus

The celebrated youth chorus performs songs commissioned for members of The National and Arcade Fire. Bandcamp Album of the Day May 17, 2017
go to album
Cistern
by Jherek Bischoff

featured on Bandcamp Radio Aug 30, 2016
go to album
Scatter My Ashes
by Octet Ensemble and William Susman

“Scatter My Ashes” exists at a crossroads between multiple styles, but emerges with something rich, textural, ambient, and riveting. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 7, 2022
go to album