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by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
Translation by Edward Rehatsek (1819 - 1891)

La lampe
Language: French (Français)  after the Persian (Farsi) 
Une certaine nuit, mon ami pénétra dans ma demeure. 
Je me [levai]1 avec une telle promptitude, que ma lampe tomba.
Mon ami m’accabla de reproches, disant :
— Pourquoi, dès que tu m’as aperçu, as-tu éteint la lampe ?

Je répondis : — J’ai cru que le soleil s’était levé …

J’ai vu en songe celui dont la beauté 
illuminerait la nuit la plus obscure. 
À mon réveil, j’ai pensé :
« D’où me vient ce bonheur ? »

Si un fâcheux se place 
devant [ta]2 lampe, bondis et tue-le ! 
Mais si, au contraire, le nouveau 
venu a des lèvres de miel 
et un sourire aussi doux que le sucre, 
saisis-le par le bras et éteins la lampe.

Available sung texts: (what is this?)

•   K. Sorabji 

Please note: this text, provided here for educational and research use, is in the public domain in Canada and the U.S., but it may still be copyright in other legal jurisdictions. The LiederNet Archive makes no guarantee that the above text is public domain in your country. Please consult your country's copyright statutes or a qualified IP attorney to verify whether a certain text is in the public domain in your country or if downloading or distributing a copy constitutes fair use. The LiederNet Archive assumes no legal responsibility or liability for the copyright compliance of third parties.

View original text (without footnotes)
1 K. Sorabji: "levais"
2 K. Sorabji: "la"

Text Authorship:

  • by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "La lampe", appears in Gulistan. Le jardin des roses, Paris, Éd. Arthème Fayard, first published 1913 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Persian (Farsi) by Abū-Muḥammad Muṣliḥ al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī (c1210 - c1292) [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

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

  • by Kaikhosru Sorabji (1892 - 1988), "La lampe", KSS 42 no. 1 (1926), published 1991, first performed 1999 [ male voice and piano ], from Trois poèmes du “Gulistān” de Saʿdī, no. 1, Bath, The Sorabji Archive [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Charles Hopkins) , "The lamp", written 1995, copyright © 1995, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Edward Rehatsek) , first published by the Kama Shastra Society, first published 1888


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2018-08-28
Line count: 15
Word count: 115

I remember that one night a dear friend...
Language: English  after the French (Français) 
I remember that one night a dear friend of mine entered when I jumped up
in such a heedless way that the lamp was extinguished by my sleeve.
A vision appeared in the night and by its appearance the darkness was illuminated.
I was amazed at my luck exclaiming whence this felicity?
He took a seat and began reproving me saying that when I beheld him I extinguished the lamp.

I said: “I thought the sun had risen and wits have said:

When an ugly person comes before the lamp
Arise to him and pull him into the assembly
But if it be a sugar-smiled, sweet-lipped one
Pull him by the sleeve and extinguish the lamp.”

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: this is a prose selection. Line breaks have been added to match up to some lines in the original.


Text Authorship:

  • by Edward Rehatsek (1819 - 1891), first published by the Kama Shastra Society, first published 1888 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in French (Français) by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "La lampe", appears in Gulistan. Le jardin des roses, Paris, Éd. Arthème Fayard, first published 1913
    • Go to the text page.

Based on:

  • a text in Persian (Farsi) by Abū-Muḥammad Muṣliḥ al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī (c1210 - c1292) [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

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

    [ None yet in the database ]


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2019-05-29
Line count: 10
Word count: 116

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This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

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