411 REFERENCE · Wikiquote
Gustave Nadaud
Reference material by Wikiquote contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
thumb|Gustave Nadaud
Gustave Nadaud (20 February 1820 – 1893) was a French songwriter and chansonnier.
Quotes
Carcassonne, (c. 1887; with translation by John Reuben Thompson)
Je me fais vieux, j’ai soixante ans, J’ai travaillé toute ma vie, Sans avoir, durant tout ce temps. Pu satisfaire mon envie. Je vois bien qu’il n’est ici-bas De bonheur complet pour personne. Mon vœu ne s’accomplira pas: Je n’ai jamais vu Carcassonne!
Translated:I’m growing old, I’m sixty years; I’ve labored all my life in vain.In all that time of hopes and fears, I’ve failed my dearest wish to gain.I see full well that here below Bliss unalloyed there is for noneMy prayer would else fulfilment know — Never have I seen Carcassonne!
Stanza 1.
Yet could I these two days have spent, While still the autumn sweetly shone,Ah, me! I might have died content When I had looked on Carcassonne.
Stanza 2.
They tell me every day is there Not more nor less than Sunday gay;In shining robes and garments fair The people walk upon their way.One gazes there on castle walls As grand as those of Babylon,A bishop and two generals! What joy to be in Carcassonne! Ah! might I but see Carcassonne!
Stanza 3.
The vicar’s right; he says that we Are ever wayward, weak and blind;He tells us in his homily Ambition ruins all mankind;
Stanza 4.
Thy pardon, Father, I beseech, In this my prayer if I offend;One something sees beyond his reach From childhood to his journey’s end.My wife, our little boy Aignan, Have travelled even to Narbonne;My grandchild has seen Perpignan; And I — have not seen Carcassonne...
Stanza 5.
External links
Nadaud's Carcassonne from French Wikisource.
Category:Songwriters from France
Category:1820 births
Category:1893 deaths