DE CE ROSEAU
(From This Reed)
Poet: Henri de Régnier (1864-1936)
TITLE: De ce roseau
INSTRUMENTATION: SSA a cappella
TIME: 3m15s
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TEXT
« Odelette 1 »
(Adapted by Marie-Claire Saindon)
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Un petit roseau m’a suffi
Pour faire frémir l’herbe haute
Et tout le pré
Et les doux saules
Et le ruisseau qui chante aussi ;
Un petit roseau m’a suffi
À faire chanter la forêt.
Ceux qui passent l’ont entendu
Dans le silence et dans le vent,
Clair ou perdu,
Proche ou lointain...
Ceux qui passent en leurs pensées
En écoutant, au fond d’eux-mêmes,
L’entendront toujours qui chante.
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Il m’a suffi de ce roseau
À la fontaine où vint l’Amour
Mirer, un jour,
Sa face radieuse,
Pour faire aimer ceux qui passent ;
Et j’ai, du souffle d’un roseau,
Fait chanter toute la forêt.
Courtesy translation:
A small reed was enough for me
To make the tall grass shudder
And all the meadow
And the sweet willows
And the stream that sings too;
A small reed was enough for me
To make the forest sing.
Those who pass by have heard it
In the silence and in the wind,
Clear or lost,
Near or far ...
Those who pass, in their thoughts,
By listening, deep inside,
Will always hear it singing.
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I only needed this reed
At the fountain in which Love came
To observe, one day,
Her radiant face,
To make those who pass loved;
And I, from the breath of a reed,
Made the whole forest sing.
PRORGAM NOTES
Based on the poem "Odelette 1" by Henri de Régnier, a little reed gives the power to a single person to make the whole forest sing, touch the deepest part of all those who pass by, and call on to Love.
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