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Three Mélodies
Translations © by Grant Hicks
by Ernest Moret (1871 - 1949)
View original-language texts alone: Trois mélodies [1921]
Je parerai tes bras de bracelets, ton cou d'un collier, tes lèvres de mes lèvres, je scellerai ton rêve de ma fièvre, ta gaieté l'encouragerai de toute mon âme grisée, tes cheveux les couronnerai des acclamations qu'arracherai aux trouvères surpassés. Puis te demanderai pardon d'avoir si mal chanté le don parfumé de ta grâce souveraine et l'assentiment de ta beauté reine.
Text Authorship:
- by Gustave Kahn (1859 - 1936), no title
See other settings of this text.
Confirmed with Gustave Kahn, Domaine de fée, Brussels, Société Nouvelle, 1895, page 11.
I will adorn your arms with bracelets, your neck with a necklace, your lips with my lips, I will seal your dream with my fever, your gaiety I will encourage with all my tipsy soul, your tresses I will crown with acclamations I will wrest from superseded trouvères. Then I will beg your pardon for having so poorly sung the fragrant gift of your sovereign grace and the assent of your queenly beauty.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Gustave Kahn (1859 - 1936), no title
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2026-08-30
Line count: 13
Word count: 74
(The following is a multi-text setting.)
Je ne chercherai pas à te jamais comprendre, Je ne chercherai pas à savoir si tu mens, Pourvu que ton regard ou ta voix me soit tendre, Pourvu que tes deux bras me soient toujours aimants.
Text Authorship:
- by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, no title, appears in En Orient, in 1. Les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, in 1. Les amours, in 1. L'Amour de la Femme, no. 102, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1907
See other settings of this text.
Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor. En Orient, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1907, page 63.
Note: This is not a translation. Al-Ghazali left no known poetry; these quatrains were written by Jean Lahor (pseudonym of Henri Cazalis), who imagined himself into Al-Ghazali's life and thought, adopting the quatrain form because it was current in Omar Khayyam's era.
Researcher for this page: Johann Winkler
Si tu m'aimes ou non, je ne le veux savoir ; Je t'aime et m'en contente, et ne sais qu'une chose, C'est que ton corps exquis est doux comme la rose Qu'en rêvant on respire et baise tout un soir.
Text Authorship:
- by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, no title, appears in En Orient, in 1. Les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, in 1. Les amours, in 1. L'Amour de la Femme, no. 103
See other settings of this text.
Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor. En Orient, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1907, page 63.
Note: This is not a translation. Al-Ghazali left no known poetry; these quatrains were written by Jean Lahor (pseudonym of Henri Cazalis), who imagined himself into Al-Ghazali's life and thought, adopting the quatrain form because it was current in Omar Khayyam's era.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
I will not seek ever to understand you, I will not seek to know if you are lying, As long as your gaze and your voice are sweet to me, As long as your embrace is always loving.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, no title, appears in En Orient, in 1. Les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, in 1. Les amours, in 1. L'Amour de la Femme, no. 102, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1907
Go to the general single-text view
Whether or not you love me, I do not wish to know; I love you and am satisfied with that, and I know one thing only, That your exquisite body is as sweet as the rose That in a dream one inhales and kisses all evening long.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, no title, appears in En Orient, in 1. Les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, in 1. Les amours, in 1. L'Amour de la Femme, no. 103
Go to the general single-text view
Sur la terre il tombe de la neige, Sur la terre il tombe de l'ombre. Où sont allées les feuilles sèches ? Même les feuilles sèches sont mortes, Et maintenant de la neige et de l'ombre tombent. On dirait de mauvais anges qui heurtent Les marteaux rouillés contre les portes, Des anges qui nous tuent de souffrances très lentes. Et, à l'horizon, les tristes nues, traînantes.. Les maisons sont closes comme des tombes sombres, Et, partout, c'est de la neige et de l'ombre qui tombent.
Text Authorship:
- by (André Jules) Ferdinand Hérold (1865 - 1940), no title, written 1893?, appears in Chevaleries sentimentales , Éd. de la librairie de l'Art indépendant, first published 1893
See other settings of this text.
Confirmed with André-Ferdinand Herold, Chevaleries sentimentales, Paris: Librairie de l'art indépendant, 1893, page 97.
Upon the earth snow is falling, Upon the earth shadow is falling. Where have the dry leaves gone? Even the dry leaves are dead, And now snow and shadow are falling. They seem like ill angels who beat Rusted hammers against the doors, Angels who kill us with drawn-out suffering. And on the horizon, sad clouds, trailing... The houses are closed up like somber tombs, And, everywhere, it is snow and shadow that fall.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 by Grant Hicks, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by (André Jules) Ferdinand Hérold (1865 - 1940), no title, written 1893?, appears in Chevaleries sentimentales , Éd. de la librairie de l'Art indépendant, first published 1893
Go to the general single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2026-08-30
Line count: 11
Word count: 74