Four Arabian Songs

Translations © by Grant Hicks

by Jean Déré (1886 - 1970)

View original-language texts alone: Quatre chants arabes

1. Le flambeau  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
J'ai poli ton corps de tant de caresses, 
qu’il ressemble maintenant 
à la pierre sacrée d’El Djoûf, 
que tant de lèvres ont usée.

Le soleil peut s’éteindre 
et la lune tomber, 
il m’inondera de lumière.

Text Authorship:

Based on:

See other settings of this text.

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le jardin des caresses, L'édition d'Art H. Piazza, p.6


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
1. The Torch
Language: English 
I've polished your body with so many caresses, 
that now it resembles 
the sacred stone of Al-Jouf, 
which so many lips have worn. 

The sun may go out
and the moon fall;
it will bathe me in light.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 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: 

Based on:

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view

Translations of titles:
"Défi" = "Defiance"
"Le flambeau" = "The Torch"



This text was added to the website: 2026-02-25
Line count: 7
Word count: 38

Translation © by Grant Hicks
2. La mosquée  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Je me rappelle ce matin de Damas 
et le silence du jardin où tu sommeillais. 
L'ombre de ton cou était bleue. 
Tes seins se soulevaient et s'abaissaient
avec un rythme de source. 
Tes bras, à l'abandon,
étaient deux ruisseaux d'argent sur l'herbe,
et des papillons se posaient sur tes ongles, 
les prenant pour des roses. 
A ce moment, dans les Jardins du Paradis,
mon père contemplait-il des vierges plus splendides ?
Je me suis étendu près de toi, 
comme un mendiant près d'une mosquée.

Text Authorship:

Based on:

See other settings of this text.

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le Jardin des Caresses, 73e édition, Paris : L'édition d'art H. Piazza, 1921, p.78


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
2. The Mosque
Language: English 
I remember that morning in Damascus 
and the silence of the garden where you were sleeping. 
The shadow of your neck was blue. 
Your breasts rose and fell
with the rhythm of a wellspring. 
Your careless arms
were two rivulets of silver on the grass,
and butterflies alit on your nails, 
mistaking them for roses. 
At that moment, in the Gardens of Paradise, 
was my father gazing at virgins any more magnificent? 
I lay down next to you, 
like a beggar next to a mosque.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 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: 

Based on:

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view

Translations of titles:
"La mosquée" = "The Mosque"
"Sommeil" = "Sleep"



This text was added to the website: 2026-02-24
Line count: 13
Word count: 85

Translation © by Grant Hicks
3. Le sommeil des colombes  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Dans le cèdre, des colombes 
se sont posées pour la nuit. 
Longtemps hésitantes, 
elles avaient tournoyé au-dessus 
de l'arbre solitaire. 
Maintenant elles vont s'endormir. 
Comme chaque nuit, au sommet 
de la plus haute branche, 
un rossignol chantera. 
Ainsi je berce souvent ton sommeil 
de paroles d'amour. 
Je crois que le même instinct 
guide les colombes et les jeunes filles 
vers les jardins où chantent les rossignols.

Text Authorship:

Based on:

See other settings of this text.

by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
3. The Sleep of Doves
Language: English 
In the cedar, doves
have settled for the night. 
Hesitating for a long while, 
they had circled above
the solitary tree. 
Now they are about to go to sleep. 
As on all nights, at the top 
of the highest branch
a nightingale will sing. 
So do I often beguile your sleep 
with words of love. 
I believe the same instinct 
guides doves and young girls 
towards gardens where nightingales sing.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 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: 

Based on:

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view


This text was added to the website: 2026-02-22
Line count: 14
Word count: 70

Translation © by Grant Hicks
4. Le chant des guerriers  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Nous sommes venus des grands sables, 
  où naît le Simoun.
[Nos chevaux enfonçaient jusqu'aux genoux dans de l'or.]1
Des astres, énormes commes des fruits, 
nous indiquaient, la nuit, notre route.
Nous sommes venus des grands sables, 
  où naissent les lions.

Le jour, nos boucliers étaient des soleils en marche.
La nuit, nos lances étaient [fleuries d'étoiles]2.
Nos compagnons qui sont tombés, nous les avons ensevelis debout, 
la face [vers]3 l'Occident.

Nous sommes venus des grands sables,
où naquirent les Pharaons, 
et leurs mausolées ne nous ont pas fait détourner la tête.

Nous sommes venus des grands sables, 
    où verdoient [des]4 oasis 
plus belles que les Jardins du Paradis,
[et leurs]5 délices ne nous ont pas retenues.

Nous sommes venus des grands sables, 
où l'on entend la voix de Dieu.

Text Authorship:

Based on:

See other settings of this text.

View text without footnotes

Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le jardin des caresses, [Paris] H. Piazza, 1921, pages 10-11.

1 omitted by Bonhomme
2 Bonhomme: "les étoiles"
3 Bonhomme: "tournée vers"
4 Bonhomme: "les"
5 Bonhomme: "leurs"

by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
4. The Song of the Warriors
Language: English 
We have come from the great sands,
where the Simoom is born.
[Our horses sank up to their knees in gold.]1
Stars as big as fruits
showed us our route at night 
We have come from the great sands,
where lions are born.

During the day, our shields were suns on the march.
At night, our spears were [abloom with stars]2.
Our fallen comrades we have buried upright,
their faces [towards]3 the East.

We have come from the great sands,
where the Pharaohs were born,
and their mausoleums did not make us turn our heads.

We have come from the great sands,
where [oases]4 grow green,
more beautiful than the Gardens of Paradise,
[and their]5 delights did not hold us back.

We have come from the great sands,
where one hears the voice of God.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2026 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: 

Based on:

Based on:

Go to the general single-text view

View text without footnotes

Translations of titles:
"Chant des Guerriers" = "Song of the Warriors"
"Le chant des guerriers" = "The Song of the Warriors"

Note for stanza 1, line 2, "Simoom": a hot, dry, sometimes deadly wind that blows in the Sahara and desert areas of the Near East. Its name comes from an Arabic root meaning "poison."
1 omitted by Bonhomme
2 Bonhomme: "the stars"
3 Bonhomme: "turned towards"
4 Bonhomme: "the oases"
5 Bonhomme: "their"


This text was added to the website: 2026-02-25
Line count: 20
Word count: 141

Translation © by Grant Hicks