I am the night: oh! be the day

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

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Je suis la nuit, oh ! sois le jour

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG

Je suis la nuit, oh ! sois le jour ; 
Lumière que mon ombre adore, 
Unissons-nous, et notre amour 
Resplendira comme une aurore. 

Mon âme brûle et se mourra : 
Je suis le désert, sois l'eau pure, 
Et notre amour nous couvrira, 
Comme une oasis de verdure.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor. L'illusion, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1906, page 11.

Text Authorship:

by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Aubade", appears in L'Illusion, in 1. Chants de l'Amour et de la Mort [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 Albert Bertelin (1872 - 1951), "Aubade" [ high voice and piano ], from Mélodies, no. 3, Éd. Loret Fils et H. Freytag [sung text not yet checked]
by Charles-Gaston Levadé (1869 - 1948), "Aubade mélancolique", op. 7778 no. 2, published 1894 [ baritone and piano ], Paris, Éd. 'Au Ménestrel' Heugel et Cie. [sung text not yet checked]
by Sebastian Benson Schlesinger (1837 - 1917), "Aubade", op. 75 no. 1 [ voice and piano ], A. Quinzard [sung text checked 1 time]

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: 2018-12-06
Line count: 8
Word count: 44

I am the night: oh! be the day

Language: English after the French (Français)

I am the night: oh! be the day;
Light that my shadow adores,
Let us join together, and our love 
Will be radiant like the dawn.

My soul burns and is bound for death:
I am the desert: be the fresh water,
And our love will shelter us,
Like an oasis of greenery.

About the headline (FAQ)

Translations of titles:
"Aubade" = "Aubade"
"Aubade mélancolique" = "Melancholy Aubade"

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.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Henri Cazalis (1840 - 1909), as Jean Lahor, "Aubade", appears in L'Illusion, in 1. Chants de l'Amour et de la Mort
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-06-23
Line count: 8
Word count: 53