Les berceaux - Gabriel Fauré

"Les Berceaux," from Trois mélodies (Op. 23, No. 1) (1879)
Composer: Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Poet: Sully Prudhomme (1839-1907)
Le long du quai les grands vaisseaux,
Que la houle incline en silence,
Ne prennent pas garde aux berceaux
Que la main des femmes balance.
Mais viendra le jour des adieux,
Car il faut que les femmes pleurent,
Et que les hommes curieux
Tentent les horizons qui leurrent.
Et ce jour-là les grands vaisseaux,
Fuyant le port qui diminue,
Sentent leur masse retenue
Par l’âme des lointains berceaux.
Translation: Elias Berezin
The great ships along the wharf
Swaying silently with the tide,
Pay no attention to the cradles
Rocked by the hands of women.
But the day of farewell will come,
For it must be that women will weep
While those curious men
Test the tempting horizons
And on that day those great ships,
Fleeing the dwindling port,
Will feel their bulk pulled back
By the souls in those distant cradles.
Recorded July 12, 2024 at the First German United Methodist Church in Glendale, CA.
Elias Berezin, tenor
Helen Wu, piano
Audio and video by Elias Berezin.
eliasberezin.com