Je Chante Une Chanson Sombre (Eng&Fre)

[Poetess]

Je Chante Une Chanson Sombre

In agony away
Morose per se
Je chante une chanson sombre

The lyrics flow
But meaningless, lo
Veux-tu chanter une chanson sombre?

In fields of orchids
There play those kids
Je veux connaitre leur idée de la vie.


Don`t I vie
The soul defies
Mais pense-t-il à moi?

In anguish lost
And sob I must
Je mange ma chair, et bois mon sang

Moans of pain
Heart was slain
Je chante une chanson sombre
---------


I am all ready for explanations and translation.
I miss everyone in here. :(

[Virgil]

Poetess, that is wonderful. Of course i don't understand it, but from the sound of the language it's beautiful. I can hear music in it. I would love to hear this out loud. I love the way you handled the going back and forth. And the structure of the third line in French really holds this together. :)

[Poetess]

Yes, I always find myself holding structures together.
Need I translate these French verses dear Virgil?

[Virgil]

Yes, I always find myself holding structures together.
Need I translate these French verses dear Virgil?

I would like that eventually. But I didn't want to ruin it for others up front. I think the poem is beautiful as is right now and didn't want to spoil that for others. If you don't mind, could you PM me the translations?

[qimissung]

I like your poem, Poetess. I think it is the beauty and mystery of the French language, and the intermingling of the English and French that give this poem it's charm. Well done.

[Bitterfly]

Very pretty. But it should be "veux-tu chanter" in the second stanza.

[Emil Miller]

Yet another lugubrious young lady on the forum; it seems to be full of them. As an antidote to this sad state of affairs I offer the following:

Happy and gay
In the old fashioned way
Je chante une chanson heureuse

The lyrics flow
And with happiness glow
Veux tu chanter une chanson heureuse?

In fields of orchids
There play those kids
Je connais leur idee de la vie

There's no need to cry
Let misfortune fly
Je sais qu'il pense de moi

All anguish is past
I'm happy at last
Je mange pas ma chair ou bois mon sang

As joys unfurl
Around this girl
Je chante une chanson heureuse

[Poetess]

Very pretty. But it should be "veux-tu chanter" in the second stanza.

Yes yes true, excuse me, i`m originally English Educated and I do not know French but a little. That was a struggle for me to put a sentence together. Thanks a lot again. x


Brian Bean, that was lovely of you. I am sure I will sing this one day.

[Poetess]

Oh, dear qimissung, I forgot to thank you. I shall make it up.

[crystalmoonshin]

Yet another lugubrious young lady on the forum; it seems to be full of them. As an antidote to this sad state of affairs I offer the following:

Happy and gay
In the old fashioned way
Je chante une chanson heureuse

The lyrics flow
And with happiness glow
Veux tu chanter une chanson heureuse?

In fields of orchids
There play those kids
Je connais leur idee de la vie

There's no need to cry
Let misfortune fly
Je sais qu'il pense de moi

All anguish is past
I'm happy at last
Je mange pas ma chair ou bois mon sang

As joys unfurl
Around this girl
Je chante une chanson heureuse

I like this poetic response to Poetess' poem. It's quite happy and all positive.

But I think it should be "je mange pas ma chair ni bois mon sang" in the 5th verse...

[Poetess]

"Je ne mange pas ma chair ni bois mon sang" should that be.
The negative form of a verb in French should be preceded by ne and followed by pas

[crystalmoonshin]

You're right, Poetess. But isn't "Je mange pas" also accepted as slang? Just a question. I'm studying French but I'm not that good at it yet...

[Bitterfly]

Yes yes true, excuse me, i`m originally English Educated and I do not know French but a little. That was a struggle for me to put a sentence together. Thanks a lot again. x


Don't be sorry! Your poem is very melodious (Verlaine influence, maybe? have you read his poems?), and I just wanted to help out with the French bits.


You're right, Poetess. But isn't "Je mange pas" also accepted as slang? Just a question. I'm studying French but I'm not that good at it yet...

je mange pas is not slang, it's laziness :p You'll hear it a lot, of course.

[Poetess]

You're right, Poetess. But isn't "Je mange pas" also accepted as slang? Just a question. I'm studying French but I'm not that good at it yet...

No I don`t think so. As I mentioned earlier I am not French educated but I had to always remember I can not use the verb followed by pas, it had to be preceded by ne as well.

As in English, we can`t say "I not eat", but "I do not eat". So that`s why the ne and pas function.


I hope i`m not wrong :p

Bitterfly!!! Believe me I`d never heard about Verlaine until now. I checked Wikipedia and that seems interesting. Looking up some translated works of his. Thanks for that

[crystalmoonshin]

je mange pas is not slang, it's laziness :p You'll hear it a lot, of course.

Oh. Thanks for the info. it's just that sometimes, I hear that from a professor of mine.

[Pendragon]

My high-school French has sadly vanished, but I don't need transalation to recognize a great poem! :thumbs_up

Merci beaucoup, or "mercy buckets" as we hillfolk might say... :)

[Poetess]

^^ I miss you precisely

[PrinceMyshkin]

Sweet indeed, the idea of switching from the more restrained English to the more openly sentimental French. This reminded me somewhat of


Je suis comme je suis
Je suis faite comme ça
Quand j’ai envie de rire
Oui je ris aux éclats
J’aime celui qui m'aime
Est-ce ma faute à moi
Si ce n’est pas le même
Que j’aime chaque fois
Je suis comme je suis
Je suis faite comme ça
Que voulez-vous de plus
Que voulez-vous de moi


(an excerpt) by Jacques Prevert which I have on a double album of songs sung by Germaine Montero

[Poetess]

^^ reminds me of something I wrote "I am I"