Gustave Nadaud

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Gustave Nadaud

Gustave Nadaud (20 February 18201893) was a French songwriter and chansonnier.

Quotes[edit]

Carcassonne, (c. 1887; with translation by John Reuben Thompson)[edit]

  • 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 none
      My 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[edit]

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