The English version presented below is a literal, word-for-word translation. It attempts to preserve the poet's word order as far as possible, for a better appreciation of the composer's musical treatment of individual words and phrases. Download track from iTunes.

Toute, avec sa robe et ses fleurs,
Elle, ici, redevint poussière,
Et son âme emportée ailleurs
Renaquit en chant de lumière.

Mais un léger lien fragile
Dans la mort brisé doucement,
Encerclait ses tempes débiles
D’impérissables diamants.

En signe d’elle, à cette place,
Seules, parmi le sable blond,
Les pierres éternelles tracent
Encor l’image de son front.

Charles Van Lerberghe

All of her, with her dress and her flowers,
She, here, returned to dust.
And her soul, carried off elsewhere,
Was born again in a song of light.

But a light fragile tie,
In death gently broken,
Encircled her sickly temples
With imperishable diamonds.

As a sign of her, in this place,
Alone, in the yellow sand,
The eternal stones trace
Still the image of her forehead.