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Les sir​è​nes, la colombe, le paon, etc.

from Le Bestiaire .​.​. Guillaume Apollinaire (2018) by Thomas Oboe Lee

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lyrics

Les Sirènes.
Sachè-je d’où provient, Sirènes, votre ennui
Quand vous vous lamentez, au large, dans la nuit?
Mer, je suis, come toi, plein de voix machinées
Et mes vaisseaux chantants se nomment les années.

The Sirens.
How should I know, Sirens, where your tedium comes from
When you moan in the night from far off the shores?
Sea, like you, I’m full of scheming voices
And my singing ships are called my years.

La Colombe.
Colombe, l’amour et l’esprit
Qui engendrâtes Jésus-Christ,
Comme vous j’aime une Marie.
Qu’avec elle je me marie.

The Dove.
Dove, the love and the spirit
That endangered Jesus Christ,
Like you I love a Mary,
Whom I hope to marry.

Le Paon.
En faisant la roue, cet oiseau,
Dont le pennage traîne à terre,
Apparaît encore plus beau,
Mais se découvre le derrière.

The Peacock.
When he spreads his tail this bird,
Whose plumage trails on the ground,
Seems more beautiful than ever
But reveals his rear end.

Le Hibou.
Mon pauvre coeur est un hibou
Qu’on cloue, qu’on décloue, qu’on recloue.
De sang, d’ardeur, il est à bout.
Tous ceux qui m’aiment, je les loue.

The Owl.
My poor heart is an owl
They nail up, take down, nail up again.
It’s run out of blood, of zeal.
All those who love me I commend.

Ibis.
Oui, j’irai dans l’ombre terreuse.
O mort certaine, ainsi soit-il!
Latin mortel, parole affreuse,
Ibis, oiseau des bords du Nil.

Ibis.
Yes, I will go into the shadowy earth.
Oh certain death, so let it be!
Deadly Latin, frightful word,
Ibis, bird of the banks of the Nile.

Le Boeuf.
Ce chérubin dit la louange
Du paradis, où, près des anges,
Nous revivrons, mes chers amis
Quand le bon Dieu l’aura permis.

The Ox.
This cherubim recites the praise
Of paradise, where, close to the angels,
We’ll live again, my dear friends
When the good Lord allows.

credits

from Le Bestiaire .​.​. Guillaume Apollinaire (2018), released October 11, 2018

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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

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