Heather Jones: Lyrics and Translations

March 24, 2025

Chanson d'amour

by Gabriel Fauré
Text by Armand Silvestre

Original

J'aime tes yeux, j'aime ton front,
Ô ma rebelle, ô ma farouche,
J'aime tes yeux, j'aime ta bouche
Où mes baisers s'épuiseront.

J'aime ta voix, j'aime l'étrange
Grâce de tout ce que tu dis,
Ô ma rebelle, ô mon cher ange,
Mon enfer et mon paradis!

J'aime tes yeux, j'aime ton front,
Ô ma rebelle, ô ma farouche,
J'aime tes yeux, j'aime ta bouche
Où mes baisers s'épuiseront.

J'aime tout ce qui te fait belle,
De tes pieds jusqu'à tes cheveux,
Ô toi vers qui montent mes vœux,
Ô ma farouche, ô ma rebelle!

J'aime tes yeux, j'aime ton front,
Ô ma rebelle, ô ma farouche,
J'aime tes yeux, j'aime ta bouche
Où mes baisers s'épuiseront.

Translation - "Love Song"

I love your eyes, I love your brow,
O my rebel, O my wild one,
I love your eyes, I love your mouth
Where my kisses shall dissolve.

I love your voice, I love the strange
Charm of all you say,
O my rebel, O my dear angel,
My inferno and my paradise.

I love your eyes, I love your brow,
O my rebel, O my wild one,
I love your eyes, I love your mouth
Where my kisses shall dissolve.

I love all that makes you beautiful
From your feet to your hair,
O you the object of all my vows,
O my wild one, O my rebel.

I love your eyes, I love your brow,
O my rebel, O my wild one,
I love your eyes, I love your mouth
Where my kisses shall dissolve.

Notre amour

by Gabriel Fauré
Text by Armand Silvestre

Original

Notre amour est chose légère,
Comme les parfums que le vent
Prend aux cimes de la fougère
Pour qu’on les respire en rêvant.
– Notre amour est chose légère.

Notre amour est chose charmante,
Comme les chansons du matin
Où nul regret ne se lamente,
Où vibre un espoir incertain.
– Notre amour est chose charmante.

Notre amour est chose sacrée,
Comme le mystère des bois
Où tressaille une âme ignorée,
Où les silences ont des voix.
– Notre amour est chose sacrée.

Notre amour est chose infinie,
Comme les chemins des couchants
Où la mer, aux cieux réunie,
S’endort sous les soleils penchants.

Notre amour est chose éternelle,
Comme tout ce qu’un Dieu vainqueur
A touché du feu de son aile,
Comme tout ce qui vient du cœur,
– Notre amour est chose éternelle.

Translation - Our love

Our love is light and gentle,
Like fragrance fetched by the breeze
From the tips of ferns
For us to breathe while dreaming.
– Our love is light and gentle.
Our love is enchanting
Like morning songs,
Where no regret is voiced,
Quivering with uncertain hopes.
– Our love is enchanting.

Our love is sacred,
Like woodland mysteries,
Where an unknown soul throbs
And silences are eloquent.
– Our love is sacred.

Our love is infinite
Like sunset paths,
Where the sea, joined with the skies,
Falls asleep beneath slanting suns.

Our love is eternal
Like all that a victorious God
Has brushed with his fiery wing,
Like all that comes from the heart,
– Our love is eternal.

Bei dir ist es traut

by Alma Mahler
Text by Rainer Maria Rilke

Original

Bei dir ist es traut,
Zage Uhren Schlagen
Wie aus alen Tagen,
Kann mir ein Liebes sagen,
Aber nur nicht laut!

Ein Tor geht irgendwo
Draußen im Blütentreiben,
Der Abend horcht an die Scheiben,
Laß uns leise bleiben,
Keiner weiß uns so!

Translation - "With You it is Safe"

With you it is safe,
Timid clocks strike,
As in days of old,
Say something sweet to me,
But not too loudly!

A gate squeaks somewhere outside
Out there in the blossoming flowers,
The evening listens at the windowpanes,
Let us keep quiet,
So, no one knows we’re here!

Ouvre ton coeur

by Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Text by Louis Delâtre

Original

La marguerite a fermé sa corolla,
L’ombre a fermé les yeux du jour.
Belle, me tiendras-tu parole?
Ouvre ton coeur à mon amour.

Ouvre ton coeur, Ô jeune ange, à ma flamme,
Qu’un rêve charme ton sommeil.
Je veux reprendre mon âme,
Comme un fleur s’ouvre au soleil!

Translation - "Open your heart"

The daisy has closed its flowery crown,
Twilight has closed the eyes of day,
My lovely beauty, will you keep your word?
Open your heart to my love.

Open your heart to my desire, young angel
that a dream may charm your sleep –
I want to take back my soul
As a flower opens to the sun!

Oh, Promise Me

by Reginald de Koven
Text by Clement Scott

Oh, promise me that some day you and I
Will take our love together to some sky.
Where we can be alone and faith renew,
And find the hallows where those flowers grew.
Those first sweet violets of early spring,
Which come in whispers, thrill us both and sing
Of love, unspeakable that is to be;
Oh, promise me. Oh, promise me.

Oh promise me that you will take my hand,
The most unworthy in this lonely land.
And let me sit beside you in your eyes,
Seeing the vision of our paradise.
Hearing God’s message while the organ rolls,
Its mighty music to our very souls;
No love less perfect than a life with thee;
Oh, promise me. Oh, promise me.

Wie Viele Zeit verlor ich

by Hugo Wolf
Text by Paul Heyse

Original

Wie viele Zeit verlor ich,
Dich zu lieben!
Hätt’ ich doch Gott geliebt,
In all der Zeit.
Ein Platz im Paradies
Wär mir verschrieben,
Ein Heil’ger sässe dann an meiner Seit’!

Und weil ich dich geliebt,
Schön Frisch Gesicht,
Verscherst’ ich mir des Paradises Licht,
Und weil ich dich geliebt,
Schön Veigelein,
Komm’ ich nun nicht ins Paradies hinein

Translation - "How much time I have lost in loving you"

How much time I have lost,
In loving you!
Had I but adored God
In all that time.
A place in paradise
would now be mine.
A saint would then be seated at my side

And because I loved you,
face fresh and fair,
I forfeited the light of Paradise
And because I loved you,
Fresh violet,
I never now shall enter paradise.

L’absence

by Calixa Lavallée
Text by Rémi Tremblay

Original

Te souvient-il quand ta chère présence
Troublait mes sens exaltait mon amour?
Seul, aujourd’hui, je pleure ton absence;
Je tante ma plainte aux échos d’alentour.
O toi que j’aime plus que moi-même,
Puisse ton coeur garder le souvenir.
Des jours d’ivresse où ta tendresse,
Me promettait un heureux avenir.

Te souvient-il de l’aveu de ma flamme,
Nous étions seuls, c’était par un beau soir.
D’un long regard incendiant mon âme,
Tes yeux si beaux me versèrent l’espoir.
Rayon céleste, regard modeste,
Trouble de l’âme, et pudique candeur
Tendre délire, je croyais lire,
Dans ton oeil noir, l’arrêt de mon bonheur

Te souvient-il avec quelle constance
Je recherchais ce regard de tes yeux?
Pour le revoir, vers toi mon coeur s’élance,
Et je me sens brûler des mêmes feux,
Joie éphémère! Pensée amère
Je ne pourrai donc jamais te francir,
Longue distance, mon existence
Je donnerais. Destin, pour te fléchir!

Souvent la nuit je crois revoir tes charmes,
Tu m’apparais, present encore ma main.
Puis dans mon coeur renaissent les alarmes,
Et je crains le réveil du lendemain.
Le jour m’enlève un si doux rêve;
C’est en vain que mon regard éperdu
Te cherche encore après l’aurore,
Je reste seul, navré, triste, a battu

Translation - "Absence"

Do you remember when your dear presence
Disturbed my senses, exalted my love?
Alone, today, I mourn your absence;
I sow my complaint to the echoes around me.
O you whom I love more than myself,
May your heart keep the memory,
Of the days of intoxication when your tenderness
Promised me a happy future

Do you remember the confession of my flame,
We were alone, it was on a beautiful evening.
With a long look setting my soul on fire,
Your eyes so beautiful poured me hope.
Heavenly ray, Modest look,
Troubled by the soul, And modest candor,
Tender delirium, I believed I read,
In your black eye, the end of my happiness

Do you remember with what constancy
I sought that look of your eyes?
To see you again, my heart leaps towards you,
And I feel myself burning with the same fires,
Ephemeral joy! Bitter thought!
I will never be able to cross you,
Long distance, my existence
I would give, Destiny, to change you.

Often at night I think I see your charms again,
You appear to me, still pressing my hand.
Then in my heart the alarms are reborn,
And I fear the awakening of the next day.
The day takes away from me such a sweet dream;
It is in vain that my gaze is lost.
I still look for you after dawn,
I remain alone, heartbroken, sad, dejected.

Als Luise die Briefe ihres

by W.A. Mozart
Text by Gabriele von Baumberg

Original

Erzeugt von heißer Phantasie,
In einer schwärmerischen Stunde
Zur Welt gebrachte! – geht zu Grunde!
Ihr Kinder der Melancholie!

Ihr danket Flammen euer Sein:
Ich geb’ euch nun den Flammen wieder,
Und all’ die schwärmerischen Lieder;
Denn ach! er sang nicht mir allein.

Ihr brennet nun, und bald, ihr Lieben,
Ist keine Spur von euch mehr hier:
Doch ach! der Mann, der euch geschrieben,
Brennt lange noch vielleicht in mir.

Translation - When Louisa burnt her unfaithful lover's letters

Begotten by ardent fantasy,
Born in a rapturous hour
An emotional moment! Perish,
Ye children of melancholy!

You owe your existence to flames,
To flames I now return you
And all those passionate songs;
For ah! He did not sing for me alone.

Now you are burning, and soon my dears,
Not a trace of you will remain:
But ah! The man who wrote you
May smoulder long yet in my heart.

Fleur jetée

by Cécile Chaminade
Text by Armand Silvestre

Original

Emporte ma folie
Au gré du vent,
Fleur en chantant cueillie
Et jetée en rêvant.
– Emporte ma folie
Au gré du vent!

Comme la fleur fauchée
Périt l’amour.
La main qui t’a touché
Fuit ma main sans retour.
– Comme la fleur fauchée,
Périt l’amour!

Que le vent qui te sèche,
Ô pauvre fleur,
Tout à l’heure si fraiche
Et demain sans couleur!
– Que le vent qui te sèche,
Sèche mon cœur!

Translation - "Discarded flower"

Bear away my folly
At the whim of the wind,
Flower, plucked while singing
And discarded while dreaming.
Bear away my folly
At the whim of the wind!

Like a scythed flower
Love perishes.
The hand that touched you
Shuns my hand for ever.
Like a scythed flower
Love perishes!

May the wind that withers you,
O poor flower,
So fresh just now
But tomorrow faded,
May the wind that withers you,
Wither my heart!

Se non piange un infelice

by Louise Reichardt
Text by Pietro Metastasio

Original

Se non piange un infelice
Da viventi separata
Dallo sposo abbandonta,
Dimmi, oh Dio chi piangera?

Chi puo dir ch’io piango attorto,
Se ne men sperar mi lice,
Questo misero conforto
D’ottener d’altrui pieta.

Se non piange un infelice
Dallo sposo abbandonata,
Dimmi, oh Dio chi piangera?
Oh Dio! Oh Dio!

Translation - If an unhappy woman does not weep

If an unhappy woman does not weep
Separated from other living beings
When her bridegroom has abandoned her,
Tell me oh God, who will weep?

Who can say that I weep for no reason,
If at least I hope for happiness,
This miserable comfort done
To gain the pity of others.

If an unhappy woman does not weep
When her bridegroom has abandoned her,
Tell me, O God who will weep
Oh God! Oh God!

Ferry me across the water

by Ned Rorem
Text by Christina Rossetti

Ferry me across the water,
Do, boatman, do.

If you’ve a penny in your purse
I’ll ferry you.

I have a penny in my purse,
And my eyes are blue,
So ferry me across the water,
Do, boatman, do.

Step into my ferry boat,
Be they black or blue,
And for the penny in your purse,
I’ll ferry you.

Vittoria, mio core!

by Giacomo Carissimi
Text by Domenico Benigni

Original

(Refrain)
Vittoria, mio core!
Non lagrimar più!
È sciolta d’amore
La vil servitù

(Verse 1)
Già l’empia a’ tuoi danni
Fra stuolo di sguardi,
Kon vezzi bugiardi
Dipose gl’inganni,
Le frodi, gl’affanni,
Non hanno più loco.
Del Crudo suo foco
È spento l’ardore.

(Verse 2)
Da luci ridenti
Non esce più strale
Che piaga mortale
Nel petto m’avventi
Nel duol ne’ tormenti
Io più non mi sfaccio.
È rotto ogni laccio,
Sparito il timore.

Translation - Victory, my heart

Victory, my heart
Weep no more!
Low servitude to love
Is over

The ungodly woman
Deceived you
With many glances,
And untrue caress;
Deceit and sorrow
Have no more place.
The embers of her cruel fire
Have gone out!

Her laughing eyes don’t shoot
Arrows any longer,
Which struck a mortal wound
In my breast:
Neither grief nor torment
Worry me any longer;
Every snare is broken,
And fear has disappeared

Dein blaues Auge

by Johannes Brahms
Text by Klaus Groth

Original

Dein blaues Auge hält so still,
Ich blicke bis zum Grund.
Du fragst mich, was ich sehen will?
Ich sehe mich gesund.

Es brannte mich ein glühend Paar,
Noch schmerzt das Nachgefühl:
Das deine ist wie See so klar
Und wie ein See so kühl.

Translation - Your blue eyes

Your blue eyes stay so still
I look into their depths
You ask me what I seek to see?
Myself restored to health.

A pair of ardent eyes have burnt me,
The pain of it still throbs:
Your eyes are limpid as a lake
And like a lake as cool

Métamorphoses

by Francis Poulenc
Text by Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin

I Reine des mouettes

Reine des mouettes, mon orpheline
Je t'ai vue rose, je m'en souviens
Sous les brumes mousselines
De ton deuil ancien.

Rose d'aimer le baiser qui chagrine
Tu te laissais accorder à mes mains
Sous les brumes mousselines
Voiles de nos liens.

Rougis, rougis mon baiser te devine
Mouette prise aux nœuds des grands chemins.

Reine des mouettes, mon orpheline
Tu étais rose,
Accordée à mes mains
Rose sous les mousselines
Et je m'en souviens.

Translation - I. Queen of seagulls

Queen of seagulls, my little orphan
I recall you blushing pink,
Beneath the muslin mists
Of your ancient sorrow.

Blushing pink at the kiss which provokes you
You surrendered to my hands
Beneath the muslin mists,
Veils of bond between us.

Blush, blush, my kiss finds you out,
Seagull caught where great highways meet

Queen of seagulls, my little orphan
You blushed pink,
Surrendered to my hands,
Pink beneath the muslin
And I recall the moment

II. C’est ainsi que tu es

Ta chair, d’âme mêlée
Chevlure emmêlée
Ton pied courant le temps
Ton ombre qui s’étend
Et murmure à ma tempe

Voilà, c’est ton portrait
C’est ainsi que tu es
Et je veux te l’écrire
Pour que la nuit venue
Tu puisses croire et dire
Que je t’ai bien connue

Translation - II. That is how you are

Your flesh, mingled with soul,
Your tangled hair,
Your feet pursuing me time,
Your shadow which stretches
And whispers close to my temple

There, that is your portrait,
That is how you are,
And I shall write it down for you
So that when the night comes,
You may believe and say
That I knew you well.

III. Paganini

Violon hippocampe et sirène
Berceau des coeurs coeur et berceau
Larmes de Marie-Madeleine
Soupir d’une Reine
Écho

Violon orgueil des mains légères
Départ à cheval sur les eaux
Amour chevauchant le mystère
Voleur en prière
Oiseau

Violon femme morganatique
Chat botté courant la forêt
Puits des vérités lunatiques
Confession publique
Corset

Violon alcool de l’âme en peine
Préférence muscle du soir
Épaule des saisons soudaines
Feuille de chêne
Miroir

Violon chevalier du silence
Jouet évadé du bonheur
Poitrine des mille presences
Bateau de plaisance
Chasseur

Translation - III. Paganani

Violin sea-horse and siren
Cradle of hearts, heart and cradle
Tears of Mary Magdalene
A queen’s sigh
Echo

Violin pride of delicate hands
Departure on horseback over the waters
Love astride mystery
Thief at prayer
Bird

Violin morganatic wife
Puss-in-boots ranging the forest
Well of capricious truths
Public confession
Corset

Violin alcohol of the troubled soul
Preference muscle of the evening
Shoulders of sudden seasons
Oaf-leaf
Mirror

Violin knight of silence
Toy escaped from happiness
Breast of a thousand presences
Pleasure-boat
Hunter.

Love come and gone

by H. Leslie Adams
Text by Georgia Douglas Johnson

Consider me a memory, a dream that passed away;
Or yet a flower that has blown and shattered in a day;
For passion sleeps, alas,
and keeps no vigil with the years
And wakens to no conjuring of orisons or tears.

Consider me a melody that served its simple turn,
Or but the residue of fire that settles in the urn,
For love defies pure reasoning and undeterred flows
Within, without the vassal heart—its reasoning, who knows?

The Rise of the Phoenix

by Lloyd Burritt (b. 1940)

I. Salutation of the Dawn

Listen to the dawn, look to this day,
for it is life dawn of life,

Here lie verities,
Here lie realities of our existence,
Bliss of growth, glory of action,
Splendor of beauty,
For yesterday is but a dream

And tomorrow is only a vision
But today well lived
Makes every yesterday a dream
Of happiness

But today well lived
Makes every yesterday a dream,
And every tomorrow a vision of hope
Listen to the dawn, look well to this day,
This is the salutation of the dawn

II. In Memorium

Deeply rooted massive tree,
Standing quietly and secure amongst its fellows,
Branches smaller vestiges of life,
Supporting the whole simply complex
Movement deep below the earth
Carrying whispers of tranquil vibrations
To feathery ends that begin to touch the heavens
Where its oneness abounds
And lives with all others, itself

III. Meditate

Meditate,
Meditate on the lord's glories
Who has created the universe
Who is fit to be worshipped
Of knowledge and light
Remover of all sin
And ignorance May he enlighten our intellects
And restore our hearts
Restore our hearts

IV. Rise of the Phoenix

Lightning flashes from east to west
And suddenly illuminates the whole world
Around us

So too, the phoenix rises again
And lights up the world within us

Ask not the phoenix,
To bring that light,
You are that light

Ask not that you shall find love,
You shall not find love,
You are that love