I bleed, pierced through, as though by a spearhead

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

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Je saigne, transpercé comme d'un fer de...

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

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Je saigne, transpercé comme d'un fer de lance
Par ton amour qui fait mon mal et ma langueur ; 
Et je ne veux pourtant que, mon front sur ton cœur, 
T'adorer, et souffrir, et pleurer en silence.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor. En Orient, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1907, page 16.

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.

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. 11 [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):

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

ENG English (Grant Hicks) , 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: 36

I bleed, pierced through, as though by a...

Language: English after the French (Français)

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I bleed, pierced through, as though by a spearhead,
By your love that causes my pain and my languor;
And yet all I want, with my head on your heart,
Is to worship you, suffer, and silently weep.

About the headline (FAQ)

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, 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. 11
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-07-10
Line count: 4
Word count: 38