Angela Andáy - DEBUSSY, Chanson de Bilitis no. 3

Le Tombeau des Naïades.
The third of three songs on poems by Pierre Louys (1870-1925).
Music: Claude Debussy (1862-1918).
Recorded LIVE, 1998.
Biographies and more on http://www.angelaprodeo.org


Le long du bois couvert de givre, je marchais;
Mes cheveux devant ma bouche
Se fleurissaient de petits glaçons,
Et mes sandales étaient lourdes
De neige fangeuse et tassée.

Il me dit: « Que cherches-tu? »
Je suis la trace du satyre.
Ses petits pas fourchus alternent
Comme des trous dans un manteau blanc.
Il me dit: « Les satyres sont morts.

Les satyres et les nymphes aussi.
Depuis trente ans, il n'a pas fait un hiver aussi terrible.
La trace que tu vois est celle d'un bouc.
Mais restons ici, où est leur tombeau. »

Et avec le fer de sa houe il cassa la glace
De la source ou jadis riaient les naïades.
Il prenait de grands morceaux froids,
Et les soulevant vers le ciel pâle,
Il regardait au travers.


Translation: The tomb of the water‑nymphs

Along in the frost-covered woods, I was walking;
My mouth covered with my hair
That blossomed in tiny icicles,
And my sandals were heavy
From the muddy caked snow.

He sais to me: "What are you looking for?"
"I am following the tracks of the satyr.
His tiny cloven hoofprints alternate
Like holes in a white cloak."
He sais to me: "The satyrs are dead.

The satyrs, and the nymphs too.
In thirty years we did not have such a terrible winter.
The trail that you see is of a he-goat.
But let's stay here, where their tomb is."

With the iron of his hoe he broke the ice
Of the spring where the water-nymphs used to laugh.
He picked up some large cold slabs of ice,
And while lifting them toward the pale sky,
He kept peering through them.


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Love and Light,
AngelaProDeo

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