The Garden of Caresses - Four Prayers

Translations © by Grant Hicks

Song Cycle by J. Boutnikoff

View original-language texts alone: Le Jardin des caresses - Quatre prières, op. 21

1. Prière du midi (Dour)  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Ta main fraîche sur mon front,
ta chevelure sur ma poitrine,
et ta chanson qui parle des cascades du Liban...

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Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le Jardin des Caresses, 73e édition, Paris : L'édition d'art H. Piazza, 1921, p.113


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
1. Noonday Prayer Dour
Language: English 
Your cool hand on my brow, 
your tresses on my chest, 
and your song that tells of the waterfalls of Lebanon ...

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:
"Prière de midi" = "Noonday Prayer"
"Prière du matin" = "Morning Prayer"
"Prière du midi (Dour)" = "Noonday Prayer (Dour)"



This text was added to the website: 2026-03-01
Line count: 3
Word count: 21

Translation © by Grant Hicks
2. Prière du coucher du soleil (Maghreb)  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Fatigué, le soleil va dormir derrière les dunes. 
Le simoun de l’amour fait bondir mon sang 
en tourbillons de flammes qui ne s’éteindront jamais, 
car Dieu a voulu qu’elles éclairent le chemin des amants. 
Et la nuit ne souillera pas nos rêves.

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Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le Jardin des caresses, H. Piazza, Paris : 1921, p.114


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
2. Sunset Prayer Maghreb
Language: English 
Exhausted, the sun goes to sleep behind the dunes. 
The simoom of love makes my blood leap
in swirls of flame that will never be extinguished, 
for God has decreed that they light the path of lovers. 
And the night will not sully our dreams.

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:
"Prière du coucher du soleil" = "Sunset Prayer"
"Prière du coucher du soleil (Maghreb)" = "Sunset Prayer (Maghreb)"

Note for 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."

This text was added to the website: 2026-03-01
Line count: 5
Word count: 45

Translation © by Grant Hicks
3. Prière de l'avant matin (Jadja)  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
A la clarté de la lune qui décline, je te contemple. 
Tu dors, en souriant à ton bonheur. 
Un vent léger ruisselle sur les oliviers.
On dirait le frisson de la grande attente 
qui rend la nuit solennelle. 
Voici l'heure où une force mystérieuse me réveillait, 
quand j'étais loin de toi. 
Alors, je sortais de ma demeure, 
j'allais m'asseoir sous les étoiles, 
et je cherchais la constellation
qui brille au-dessus de ton jardin. 
Je la contemplais. 
Il me semblait que je n'avais 
qu'à parler pour que tu m'entendes.
Voici l'heure où, chaque nuit, 
je contemple les deux étoiles Fergad.
Je leur ai donné ton nom et le mien.
Fasse Dieu que nous nous versions
toujours les mêmes feux qu'elles jettent !

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Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le jardin des caresses, 73e édition, Paris : L'édition d'art H. Piazza, 1921, pages 110-111.


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
3. Predawn Prayer (Jadja)
Language: English 
In the light of the setting moon, I gaze at you. 
You are asleep, smiling at your good fortune. 
A light breeze runs over the olive trees. 
It feels like the thrill of great anticipation 
that makes the night solemn. 
This is the hour when a mysterious force awakened me, 
when I was far from you. 
Then, I went out of my dwelling, 
I seated myself beneath the stars,
and I looked for the constellation 
that shines above your garden. 
I gazed at it. 
It seemed to me that I had only to speak
and you would hear me. 
This is the hour when, every night, 
I gaze at the two Calf stars.
I have given them your name and mine. 
May God grant that we pour out for ourselves 
forever the same fires that they send forth!

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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Translator's note: Line 16 in the French text refers to les deux étoiles Fergad, literally "the two Fergad stars." I believe this refers to Pherkad and Kochab, the two stars farthest from Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper). According to Wikipedia, the name is from Arabic farqad, “calf,” these two stars being known to the Arabs as "the two calves."

This text was added to the website: 2026-03-01
Line count: 19
Word count: 138

Translation © by Grant Hicks
4. Prière de l'aurore (S'Bah)  [sung text not yet checked]
Language: French (Français) 
Réveille-toi ! 
L'Aurore a incendié la Nuit, 
dont il ne reste qu'un peu de cendre bleue. 
Le sable est frais comme un tapis de jasmins, 
et l'air est plus limpide qu'une goutte d'eau de neige. 
Là-bas, est-ce une gazelle qui bondit
ou une grande fleur qui cherche à se rapprocher du soleil ? 
Il va transpercer de ses flèches le calice de la source 
et le cœur de l'amant infortuné... 
Je suis debout dans la lumière ! 
Je défie le soleil de m'éblouir, 
puisque je ne baisse pas les yeux quand tu me regardes. 

Réveille-toi !
Ce parfum, que le vent balance, 
n'est pas celui des orangers, 
mais l'haleine de l'adolescent radieux 
qui brandit son bouclier dans le ciel.
Viens !
Les aurores que nous avons à voir sont comptées, 
et la nuit du tombeau est éternelle. 
Je veux te contempler, frissonnante et nue, 
dans cette lumière où ton corps, 
strié de veinules azurées, 
étincellera comme un sabre damasquiné. 
Je respirerai, sur ta gorge, l'odeur de la rosée 
qui l'humectait durant nos luttes amoureuses, 
et cet arôme embaumera tellement la brise, 
que les pasteurs se demanderont 
si elle n'a pas traversé les Jardins du Paradis.

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Confirmed with Franz Toussaint, Le jardin des caresses, 73e édition, Paris: L'édition d'art H. Piazza, 1921, pages 111-113.


by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955)
4. Dawn Prayer S'Bah
Language: English 
Awake!
Dawn has set fire to the Night,
of which but a few blue ashes remain.
The sand is as cool as a carpet of jasmine,
and the air more limpid than a drop of melted snow.
Over there, is it a leaping gazelle
or a great flower seeking to draw nearer to the sun?
He is going to transfix with his arrows the chalice of the spring 
and the heart of the unfortunate lover ...
I am standing in the light!  
I challenge the sun to dazzle me,
since I do not lower my eyes when you look my way. 

Awake!
This fragrance tossed about by the wind
is not that of the orange trees, 
but the breath of the radiant youth 
who brandishes his shield in the sky. 
Come!
The dawns that are ours to see are numbered, 
and the night of the tomb is eternal. 
I wish to gaze upon you, naked and trembling, 
in this light where your body, 
streaked with bluish veinlets, 
will sparkle like a damascened sword. 
I will breathe, on your throat, the scent of the dew
that moistened it during our amorous struggles,
and this aroma will so perfume the breeze
that shepherds will wonder
if it hasn't passed through the Gardens of Paradise.

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:
"Prière de l'aurore" = "Dawn Prayer"
"Prière de l'aurore (S'Bah)" = "Dawn Prayer (S'Bah)"



This text was added to the website: 2026-03-01
Line count: 29
Word count: 211

Translation © by Grant Hicks