Bois, ô lune d'amour, à la coupe vermeille, 
Car la lune du ciel, après nous, [très]1 longtemps 
Luira sur ces vergers des milliers de printemps, 
Mais sans nous retrouver par une nuit pareille.2

About the headline (FAQ)

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Confirmed with Jean Lahor, Les Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1896, page 13.

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.

¹ Fairchild: "bien"
² Fairchild adds "Aimons-nous et rêvons, et rêvons."

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. 39, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Ernest Moret (1871 - 1949), "Bois à la coupe vermeille", subtitle: "Page oubliée du Poème 'Sous le ciel de l'Islam'", published 1923 [ soprano and piano ], Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel [sung text not yet checked]

The text above (or a part of it) is used in the following settings:

• by Blair Fairchild (1877 - 1933), "Aimons-nous et rêvons", op. 40 no. 5, published 1915 [ high voice and piano ], from Quatrains d'Al-Ghazali, no. 5, London, Augener
      Score: IMSLP [external link]
  • View the full text. [sung text checked 1 time]
    

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Drink from the Ruby Goblet", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2023-05-03
Line count: 4
Word count: 35