My kisses will be the bees

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by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Mes baisers seront les abeilles

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Mes baisers seront les abeilles 
Qui suceront comme des fleurs
Tes seins, ces roses sans pareilles, 
Tes yeux, où je boirai tes pleurs.

Mes baisers viendront à tes lèvres, 
Sous les clairs de lune d'été,
T'exhaler mes soupirs, mes fièvres, 
Rossignols fous de ta beauté.

Et le matin ces hirondelles,
Sur le palais blanc de ton corps,
Mes baisers fermeront leurs ailes, 
De trop d'amour ivres ou morts.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

• D. Fleuret

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Confirmed with L'Illusion, Troisième édition, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1893, p. 81.

Text Authorship:

by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Chanson persane", appears in L'Illusion, in 1. Chants de l'Amour et de la Mort, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1875 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

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Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2014-08-03
Line count: 12
Word count: 71

My kisses will be the bees

Language: English after the French (Français)

My kisses will be the bees
That sip, as if from flowers,
From your breasts, those peerless roses,
From your eyes, where I will drink your tears.

My kisses will come to your lips,
Under the light of the Summer moon,
To breathe to you my sighs, my fevers,
Nightingales driven wild by your beauty.

And in the morning those swallows,
On the pale palace of your body,
My kisses will fold their wings,
Drunk or dead from too much love.

Available sung text translations: ← What is this?

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Translations of titles:
"Chanson d'orient" = "Song from the East"
"Chanson persane" = "Persian Song"

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.
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Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Chanson persane", appears in L'Illusion, in 1. Chants de l'Amour et de la Mort, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1875
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This text was added to the website: 2026-06-26
Line count: 12
Word count: 86