Lower your eyelid, then raise it up again

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

Translation © by Grant Hicks

Abaisse ta paupière, et puis relève‑la

Language: French (Français) after the Arabic (العربية)

Our translations: ENG

Abaisse ta paupière, et puis relève-la : 
C’était, quand tu le fis, une telle merveille, 
Entre tes cils ce clair d’aurore qui s’éveille, 
Aurore où ta blancheur d’âme se révéla !

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Œuvres de Jean Lahor. En Orient, Paris, Alphonse Lemerre, 1907, page 21.

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. 20 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Arabic (العربية) by Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad aṭ-Ṭūsiyy al-Ġazzālīy (c1058 - 1111) [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 ]

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: 29

Lower your eyelid, then raise it up...

Language: English after the French (Français)

Lower your eyelid, then raise it up again:
This was, when you did it, such a marvel, 
That light of dawn awakened between your lashes,
A dawn in which your purity of soul was revealed!

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

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. 20
- Go to the text page.

Based on:

a text in Arabic (العربية) by Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad aṭ-Ṭūsiyy al-Ġazzālīy (c1058 - 1111) [text unavailable]
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2025-05-09
Line count: 4
Word count: 35