Plaisir d'Amour

This song has deep and long-lived memories for me. I heard it in a pop English version, My Love Loves Me, when I was in my mid-teens. It went straight to my heart, but I knew it only in that version, not by its original name and composer, though I suspected it had classical roots.

It was an era reviving beautiful classical melodies for pop songs and movie themes.

Seeing the lyrics and hearing the melody of this special song which I heard and loved then, it's easy to see why a starry-eyed teenage girl would be smitten, especially during the epitome of "our love" with my childhood soulmate, with all its passion and excruciating restraint!

But then it, like that moment of young love, disappeared from the spotlight and for years I tried to relocate it. I even sang and recorded what I remembered of the words myself (mostly the last stanza) - just to try to not lose it totally, hummed it and asked musicians if they recognized it. To no avail.

These are those lyrics with which I first fell in love as a teenager ~

"My love loves me

Oh look what wonders I see

An angel smiles in my window

My love loves me.

"Your eyes kissed mine

I saw your love in their shine

You showed me heaven right then

When your eyes kissed mine.

"My world is aglow and you make it so

With your tender touch

This love will grow

My darling I know, for we have so much.

"My love loves me

How else could such beauty be?

For daytime, nighttime, for all time

My love loves me"

Recently, elation! I found several versions, instrumental and many vocalists.

Best, I discovered its classical history:

"Plaisir d'amour" ("The pleasure of love") is a classical French love song written in 1780 by Jean Paul Egldé Martini. Hector Berlioz arranged it for orchestra. Since then, it has been arranged and performed in various pop and folk music settings.

(Of course, these lyrics are bittersweet, at best, not the message I heard earlier.)

I've long loved Nana Mouskouri's voice; perfect for the gorgeous French rendition:

Original French

"Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment.
chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.

J'ai tout quitté pour l'ingrate Sylvie.
Elle me quitte et prend un autre amant.

Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment.
chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.

Tant que cette eau coulera doucement
vers ce ruisseau qui borde la prairie,

Je t'aimerai me répétait Sylvie.
L'eau coule encore. Elle a changé pourtant.

Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment.
chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie."

English Translation

(I would have disbelieved the message of these lyrics if I'd heard them then!)

"The pleasure of love lasts only a moment

I gave up everything for ungrateful Sylvia,

She is leaving me for another lover.

The pleasure of love lasts only a moment,

The pain of love lasts a lifetime.

"As long as this water will run gently
Towards this brook which borders the meadow,

I will love you", Sylvia told me repeatedly.
The water still runs, but she has changed.

The pleasure of love lasts only a moment,
The pain of love lasts a lifetime."

How idealistic was I ~

This is a poem I wrote shortly before my 18th birthday:

(or what I can remember of that poem, which was longer)

Love is like an ember
That eternally burns.
Love, that is, that's real,
That lives, and grows, and learns.

Love is like a stick
That drives to higher deeds.
Love, that is, that's great,
That knows our wants and needs.

______© Nellieanna H. Hay

How absurd

My private little rituals.

Do I really think they matter?

Surely not.

______© Nellieanna H. Hay

The layers of time and space contain

The face of you I'm loving.

It penetrates the curtains

Separating hearts and souls

And reappears before my view -

My always - you,

Who's always new.

I know you'll come again.

______© Nellieanna H. Hay

Apple Halves ~

Wherever you may be right now

My thoughts converge on you.

I know not why.

Perhaps the apple halves

Seek reuniting.

My dreamless nights

Were filled with dreams of you

Continuing through until the dawn,

Forgotten memories crowding in

In muted shades reflecting age.

Could we but meet again,

They could refresh.

______© Nellieanna H. Hay

But ~

Apple halves deteriorate,

Turn brown and shrivel,

Too long exposed to air,

Sliced surfaces, no longer smooth,

Fit less together.

Whether it matters,

I know not.

Perhaps the ragged edges

Permit more room for light,

Perhaps aging brings more depth.

______© Nellieanna H. Hay

Let the moat and wall be empty,

Let the light and life come through.

Let me reflect without distortion,

Let nothing be untrue.

Loosen all resistance,

Withhold no openness.

Let me be an instrument

For playing you - and -you- and you.

Flow in and out,

Oh, life, Oh, light.

Flow through the wall,

As though transparency.

Let it be the all in all,

When time is right

Be one heart, one soul -

Where there's no me, no you.

______© Nellieanna H. Hay

If I overshadow you, reclining,

So I dare not stand

Upright and tall

(or risk it all);

If eyes to eyes

Are not aligning,

Then "we" shouldn't

BE at all.

If heart speak not

To heart directly,

If thoughts don't intermingle,

If soul does not commune with soul ~

It's better staying single.

______© Nellieanna H. Hay

A good relationship with life

Is like a love affair.

______© Nellieanna H. Hay

As music is the process

Of relationship

In sound, -

So is everything

A process

Of relationship.

I know you come unbidden.

You will respond - or not -

With your own honest truth,

'Else be hidden from my view.

If will and wants and needs propel us,

Impulse to trap grows strong.

But when love's the guiding light,

We'll fit where we belong!

______© Nellieanna H. Hay

Oh Love, my love!

Forgive my scheming mind,

Throwing nets and snares

To try to catch you!

I know better.

Friend,

You will do your thing,

And do it well.

Then after that,

What will you do?

I don't know why

But I still feel

That we are friends.

And I still like

The looks of you.

______© Nellieanna H. Hay