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Ainsi qu'un habile et fin ciseleur Mêle en son travail l'ébène [à]1 l'ivoire, Dieu dans la nuit sombre a mis une fleur, La lune d'argent, fleur de l'ombre noire. Ainsi qu'un sultan qui devant ses yeux Fait danser, le soir, de beaux corps sans voiles, Dieu pour se charmer fait devant [les]2 cieux Sur un rythme pur danser les étoiles. Ainsi qu'un vieux roi qui veut par du bruit Distraire un moment ses pensers moroses, Dieu dit aux soleils plongés dans la nuit D'aller éveiller l'océan des choses ; Et l'éternité s'éclairant soudain, Tout frissonne, et chante, et crie, et s'élance, Et l'instant d'après, d'un signe de main, Dieu fait tout rentrer au sein du silence.
Confirmed with Henri Cazalis, Melancholia, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1868, pages 121-122.
1 Bordes: "et"2 Bordes: "ses"
Text Authorship:
- by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Pensées orientales", written 1868?, appears in Mélancholia, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1868 [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 Charles Bordes (1863 - 1909), "Pensées orientales" [ low voice and piano ], E. Demets
Score: IMSLP [external link] [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Grant Hicks) , "Oriental Thoughts", copyright © 2025, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Grant Hicks [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 117
Like a skilled and subtle woodworker Who mixes in his work ebony [with]1 ivory, God in the dark night has placed a flower, The silvery moon, flower of the black shadow. Like a sultan who before his eyes Makes beautiful bodies dance in the evening unveiled, God, to enchant himself, before [the]2 heavens Makes the stars dance in perfect rhythm. Like an aged king who wishes for a moment To distract with noise his gloomy thoughts, God tells the stars immersed in the night To go and awaken the ocean of things; And as eternity suddenly brightens, Everything trembles, and sings, and cries out, and leaps, And in the next instant, with a sign of his hand, God calls all things back into the bosom of silence.
1 Bordes: "and"
2 Bordes: "his"
Text Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2025 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, "Pensées orientales", written 1868?, appears in Mélancholia, Paris, Éd. Alphonse Lemerre, first published 1868
This text was added to the website: 2025-06-18
Line count: 16
Word count: 129