Seven Arabian Poems from Le jardin des caresses by Franz Toussaint

Translations © by Grant Hicks

by Alfred Cozanet (1870 - 1938), as Jean d'Udine

View original-language texts alone: Sept poèmes arabes extraits du Jardin des Caresses de Franz Toussaint

1. Le premier baiser  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Elle était debout près de moi.
Je l'ai regardée jusqu'à l'âme et j'ai saisi ses poignets.
En fermant les yeux, elle m'a offert sa joue.
Le voyageur altéré se contente-t-il de fruits
quand une fontaine est proche ?
Enfin, nos lèvres s'unirent.
Et tout son corps, contre le mien, ne fut plus qu'une bouche.

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Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le Jardin des Caresses, 73e édition, Paris : L'édition d'art H. Piazza, 1921, p.52


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
1. The First Kiss
Language: English 
She was standing next to me. 
I looked deep into her soul and I grabbed her wrists. 
Closing her eyes, she offered me her cheek.
Does the thirsty traveler content himself with fruit
when a spring is nearby? 
At last our lips met. 
And all of her body, against my own, became no more than a mouth.

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.
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This text was added to the website: 2026-02-26
Line count: 7
Word count: 57

Translation © by Grant Hicks
2. Les lévriers  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
À l'ombre aiguë du cyprès, mes deux lévriers dorment, 
comme des flèches dans un carquois.

Referme doucement la porte, et viens les caresser : 
ta main fera passer dans leurs rêves la fraîcheur 
d'un ruisseau du Liban.

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Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le jardin des caresses, L'édition d'Art H. Piazza, p.30


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
2. The Greyhounds
Language: English 
In the pointed shadow of the cypress, my two greyhounds are sleeping, 
like arrows in a quiver.

Close the door softly, and come stroke them:
your hand will introduce into their dreams the coolness
of a Lebanese stream.

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.
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Translations of titles:
"Les lévriers" = "The Greyhounds"
"Le sommeil des lévriers" = "The Sleep of Greyhounds"



This text was added to the website: 2026-02-25
Line count: 5
Word count: 38

Translation © by Grant Hicks
3. Le baiser dans la nuit  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
A deux mains j'ai pris ta tête, comme une urne, 
et je me suis versé la liqueur d'amour. 

Qui aurait pensé qu'une urne si petite contenait tant de liqueur ? 
L'aurore ruisselait déjà dans le ciel quand nos bouches se séparèrent.

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Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le jardin des caresses, Paris : H. Piazza, 1919, p.61


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
3. The Kiss in the Night
Language: English 
With both hands I took your head, like an urn, 
and I poured out for myself the liquor of love.

Who'd have thought so small an urn could hold so much liquor? 
Dawn was already streaming down from the sky when our mouths parted.

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.
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This text was added to the website: 2026-02-26
Line count: 4
Word count: 44

Translation © by Grant Hicks
4. L'Attente  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Plus rouge que la fleur de [l'ohkouan]1 
le soleil descendait [derrière la campagne]2. 
C'était l'heure convenue. J'avais entravé mon [cheval. Je]3 m'étais assis. 

Tu es [arrivée, Fatima]4 ! 
[Et j'ai frissonné]5, comme le dormeur 
qui est surpris par l'aurore.

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Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le jardin des caresses, Paris : H. Piazza, 1919, p. 70, with the title "L'Attente". Earlier title: "Ebn Zeïdoun".

1 Bonhomme: "l'océan"
2 Bonhomme: "dans les sables"
3 Coelho: "cheval et je"
4 Bonhomme: "arrivée"; Coelho: "arrivée, ma bien-aimée"
5 Coelho: "Alors un grand frisson m'a saisi"

by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
4. Waiting
Language: English 
Redder than the flower of the [ohkouan]1
the sun set [behind the landscape]2.
It was the appointed hour.  I'd tied up my [horse. I'd]3 sat down.

You [appeared, Fatima]4!
[And I shivered]5, like a sleeper
who is surprised by the dawn.

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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Translations of titles:
"Attente" = "Waiting"
"Ebn Zeïdoun" = "Ebn Zeïdoun"
"L'Attente" = "Waiting"

Note to stanza 1, line 1, line 7: ohkouan appears in Toussaint's translation from the Arabic and is left unexplained.
1 Bonhomme: "ocean"
2 Bonhomme: "into the sands"
3 Coelho: "horse and I'd"
4 Bonhomme: "appeared"; Coelho: "appeared, my beloved"
5 Coelho: "Then I was seized with a great shiver"


This text was added to the website: 2025-09-13
Line count: 6
Word count: 50

Translation © by Grant Hicks
5. Nedjé  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Pour les trois jeunes filles
qui s'étaient promenées dans mon jardin,
j'avais cueilli trois roses. 
La malicieuse Nedjeh arriva et me dit :
— Tu as cueilli trois roses...
Viens me montrer, dans ton jardin,
celle qui est ta préférée 
et que tu ne donnerais à personne. 
A la dérobée, je lui ai tendu un miroir.

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Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le Jardin des Caresses, 73e édition, Paris : L'édition d'art H. Piazza, 1921, p.91


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
5. Nedjeh
Language: English 
For the three maidens 
who had been walking in my garden, 
I had picked three roses. 
Mischievous Nedjeh came to me and said, 
"You've picked three roses ... 
Come show me in your garden 
which one is your favorite 
that you wouldn't give to anyone." 
I slyly handed her a mirror.

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.
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Translations of titles:
"Khadidja" = "Khadidja"
"Nedjé" = "Nedjeh"
"Nedjeh" = "Nedjeh"



This text was added to the website: 2026-02-26
Line count: 9
Word count: 50

Translation © by Grant Hicks
6. Les mains  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Le matin de notre première rencontre,
c'est la main droite de ma bien-aimée
qui m'a envoyé, dans un salut gracieux,
son cœur et sa bouche. 
Le soir de notre première rencontre, 
c'est la main gauche de ma bien-aimée 
qui a ouvert sa robe,
afin que mes baisers se posent sur ses seins.
Aussi, et pour tout ce que je leur dois encore,
chanterai-je les mains de ma bien-aimée...
Douleur ! ô douleur ! pourquoi te réveilles-tu ? 
Amis, pardonnez-moi de renoncer à écrire ce poème ! 
J'avais oublié que ma bien-aimée est partie, 
et qu'il me serait impossible de me rappeler autre chose
que ses mains sur ses yeux en larmes.

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Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le hardin des caresses, 73e édition, Paris: L'édition d'art H. Piazza, 1921, pages 131-132.


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
6. Hands
Language: English 
The morning of our first meeting,
it was my beloved's right hand
that delivered to me, in a graceful gesture,
her heart and her mouth.
The night of our first meeting,
it was my beloved's left hand 
that opened her gown
so that my kisses might alight on her breasts.
Thus, and for all that I still owe them,
will I sing my beloved's hands ...
Sorrow! O sorrow! why do you awaken?
Friends, forgive me if I give up writing this poem!
I'd forgotten that my beloved has gone away,
and that I won't be able to remember anything else 
but her hands over her tearful eyes.

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.
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Translations of titles:
"Les mains" = "Hands"
"Ses mains" = "Her Hands"



This text was added to the website: 2026-02-26
Line count: 15
Word count: 107

Translation © by Grant Hicks
7. Le souvenir unique  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Jusqu'a l'instant où mes yeux se fermeront pour toujours,
je remercierai le Seigneur d'avoir permis 
qu'un tel souvenir enchantât ma vie. 
A l'instant où mes yeux se fermeront pour toujours, 
c'est ton nom que je prononcerai, 
et celui du jardin abandonné qui fut, pour nous, 
pendant deux nuits, le plus magnifique des palais. 
Les bosquets du Paradis ne me feront pas oublier, 
pauvres arbres du jardin d'Ekoûm, 
que j'ai goûté, sous vos branches, 
des délices qui m'arrachaient des larmes ! 
Les somptueux tapis des pelouses sacrées seront
moins veloutés que ton gazon pelé,
sur lequel nous nous sommes assis, jardin d'Ekoûm, 
et le gazouillement de la fontaine Tasnim sera moins mélodieux 
que la source qui filtrait entre tes rocailles... 
Bien-aimée, maintenant que je suis parti, 
reviendras-tu t'asseoir dans le jardin abandonné ? 
Céderas-tu à la douceur d'aller rêver à mon amour, 
et à ma tristesse, si tu la devines ? 
Un soir, comme si j'étais là, mets-toi nue, 
joyeusement, sous les arbres du jardin d'Ekoûm !

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Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le jardin des caresses, 73e édition, Paris: Tradition d'art H. Piazza, 1921, pages 127-129.


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
7. The Sole Memory
Language: English 
Until the moment when my eyes are closed forever,
I will thank the Lord for allowing
such a memory to enchant my life.
At the moment when my eyes are closed forever,
it is your name that I will speak,
and that of the deserted garden that for us was,
for two nights, the most magnificent of palaces.
The groves of Paradise will not make me forget,
humble trees of the garden of Ekoûm,
that under your branches I have tasted 
delights that wrested tears from me!
The sumptuous carpets of the sacred lawns
will be less velvety than your bare turf
where we sat, garden of Ekoûm,
and the babbling of the Tasnim fountain will be less melodious 
than the spring that filtered among your rocks ...
Beloved, now that I am gone,
will you return to sit in the deserted garden?
Will you yield to the sweetness of going to dream of my love,
and of my sadness, if you sense it?
One night, as if I were there, go naked,
joyously, under the trees of the garden of Ekoûm!

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.
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This text was added to the website: 2026-02-27
Line count: 22
Word count: 181

Translation © by Grant Hicks