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Hymne à Levens
(Ode to Levens)
Lyrics by Louis Cappatti. Traditional song from Levens, County of Nice..
The original lyrics by Louis Cappatti are only in French. The text in Nissart given here corresponds to the literal translation from the version in French.
| 1st verse |
Le cap, le port, la mer, les îles,
Sous le penchant des lents côteaux,
Font un lointain de pure idylle,
Voile le jour où flambe l’eau.
Mais, d’autre part l’Alpe âpre et fière
Dresse son mur, creuse son val
Où tient à peine un peu de terre
Sur l’escalier monumental. | | The cape, the harbour, the sea, the islands,
Beneath the fondness of the slow hillsides,
Make a background of pure idyll,
Veil the day where burns the water.
But, on the other hand, the Alps bitter and proud
Erect their wall, dig their valley
Where scarcely stays a bit of earth
On the monumental staircase. |
Chorus |
Ô Levens, ta molle prairie
Que caresse le vent léger
De mille fleurs est éblouie
Au pied de sommets ravagés,
Ton air exulte d’allégresse
Mais l’orgueil de hauts souvenirs
Vient mêler de sombres rudesses
À ton recoin de frais plaisir. | | Oh! Levens, your soft meadow
That strokes the light wind
Of thousands of flowers is dazzled
At piedmont devastated,
Your air exults in elation
But the arrogance of high memories
Comes and muddle gloomy harshness
At your nook of cool pleasure. |
2nd verse |
Tu fais bondir ta farandole
De rue en rue en ton vieux bourg;
À ton festin, ta ronde est folle
Au son du fifre et du tambour
Mais, si tu peux sauter de joie
Sur un débris de ton château,
C’est que des grands tu fus la proie
Et libre au prix de maints assauts. | | You makes the farandole to leap
From street to street in your old village;
At your feast, your dance round is crazy
At sound of the fife and the drum
But, if you are able to jump for joy
On a debris from your castle,
It’s that of the men in high places you were the prey
And free at price of numerous assaults. |
3rd verse |
Levens, allègre est ta jeunesse
Dans tes remous d’air incertain
Où rives et pics luttent sans cesse.
Chaude est ta fille et gai ton vin
Mais, sentinelle à la frontière,
Tu sus tenir en dur soldat
Et c’est ton long passé de guerre
Qui mit ta force en Masséna (1). | | Levens, cheerful is your youth
In your eddies of uncertain air
Where shores and peaks fight continually.
Warm is your girl and merry your wine
But, sentry at the border,
You knew and hold out as a tough soldier
And it’s your long past of war
That put your strength into Massena. |
1. Andrew Massena spent only his childhood in Levens. See also Innou Seguran.
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