Ou voulez-vous aller?
French source:
Théophile Gautier
Où voulez-vous aller?
La voile ouvre son aile,
La brise va souffler!
L’aviron est d’ivoire,
Le pavillon de moire,
Le gouvernail d’or fin;
J’ai pour lest une orange,
Pour voile une aile d’ange,
Pour mousse un séraphin.
Est-ce dans la Baltique?
Dans la mer Pacifique?
Dans l’île de Java?
Ou bien est-ce en Norvège,
Cueillir la fleur de neige
Ou la fleur d’Angsoka?
Menez-moi, dit la belle,
A la rive fidèle,
Où l’on aime toujours.
– Cette rive, ma chère,
On ne la connaît guère,
Au pays des amours.
Where is it you would go?
English translation ©
Richard Stokes
Where is it you would go?
The sail is billowing,
The breeze about to blow!
The oar is of ivory,
The pennant of watered silk,
The rudder of finest gold;
For ballast I’ve an orange,
For sail an angel’s wing,
For cabin-boy a seraph.
Perhaps the Baltic,
Or the Pacific
Or the Isle of Java?
Or else to Norway,
To pluck the snow flower
Or the flower of Angsoka?
Take me, said the pretty maid,
To fidelity’s shore
Where love endures forever.
– That shore, my sweet,
Is scarce known
In the realm of love.
Translation © Richard Stokes, author of A French Song Companion (Oxford, 2000)
Ou voulez-vous aller?
French source:
Théophile Gautier
Where is it you would go?
English source:
Richard Stokes
Dites, la jeune belle,
Tell me, pretty young maid,
Où voulez-vous aller?
Where is it you would go?
La voile ouvre son aile,
The sail is billowing,
La brise va souffler!
The breeze about to blow!
L’aviron est d’ivoire,
The oar is of ivory,
Le pavillon de moire,
The pennant of watered silk,
Le gouvernail d’or fin;
The rudder of finest gold;
J’ai pour lest une orange,
For ballast I’ve an orange,
Pour voile une aile d’ange,
For sail an angel’s wing,
Pour mousse un séraphin.
For cabin-boy a seraph.
Est-ce dans la Baltique?
Perhaps the Baltic,
Dans la mer Pacifique?
Or the Pacific
Dans l’île de Java?
Or the Isle of Java?
Ou bien est-ce en Norvège,
Or else to Norway,
Cueillir la fleur de neige
To pluck the snow flower
Ou la fleur d’Angsoka?
Or the flower of Angsoka?
Menez-moi, dit la belle,
Take me, said the pretty maid,
A la rive fidèle,
To fidelity’s shore
Où l’on aime toujours.
Where love endures forever.
– Cette rive, ma chère,
– That shore, my sweet,
On ne la connaît guère,
Is scarce known
Au pays des amours.
In the realm of love.
Composer
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, best known for his Ave Maria, based on a work by Bach, as well as his opera Faust. Read more here.
Poet
Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While Gautier was an ardent defender of Romanticism, his work is difficult to classify and remains a point of reference for many…